The research program of the Lichtenberg Professorship in Political Sociology systematically links research on protest politics and civil society to the analysis of political cleavages and the restructuration of conflict. The very basis of European politics is currently in flux due to the rise of new structuring conflicts that cross-cut and, in part, accentuate traditional social and political divides. This process has not only brought new issues to the forefront of political conflict (especially immigration and European integration), it has also fundamentally affected the landscapes and dynamics of political mobilization in Europe.