The global energy transition as an interpretive problem: issues, incidents and interpretations
Panel proposal for IPA 2016
Tamara Metze, Associate Professor in Politics and Public Administration
Tilburg University, The Netherlands
t.metze@uvt.nl
Jennifer Dodge, Assistant Professor in Public Administration and Policy
State University of New York, Albany
jdodge@albany.edu
Fundamental changes in the energy structure occur worldwide, and energy systems of many countries have been set in motion due to issues of energy security – as security in the supply of energy and as environmental and economic security. Issues such as climate change – but also incidents as diverse as the accident in Fukushima and water pollution by fracking for shale gas, as well as geo-political, economic and technological dynamics – transform incumbent regimes of energy policy making and governance. All over the world, governments, political parties, energy companies, environmental organizations, scholars, and citizens are engaged in heated debates over desirable and realistic energy futures. Many embrace a transition towards a sustainable energy system, but not all envision the same goals and pathways, and some fight against it. This panel addresses this from an interpretive perspective: we question how the transformation of energy systems are interpreted worldwide, and what the relation is between these interpretations and the systemic changes. What are interpretive differences and similarities across the world in this transition? What consequences do these differences and similarities have?
This panel invites papers that adopt an interpretive perspective to analyzing the transitions in energy systems. Deepening our understanding of the global energy transitions as an interpretive problem requires three basic interpretive approaches: 1) understanding (such as phenomenology), 2) contextual explanation (such as discourse analysis), and 3) policy design (such as deliberative policy
making). Together these interpretive approaches – and their many varieties – enable us to understand the dynamics of energy controversies related to these transitions within and across national boundaries, and to explain why different countries have responded in different ways to similar challenges. By focusing on meaning and interpretation, we aim to go beyond overt approaches that highlight the role of interests and institutions and instead to focus attention on illuminating the fundamental meaning of societal, scientific and political conflicts that enliven and underlie efforts to govern energy futures. Ultimately, with these interpretive approaches our goal is to explore discursive horizons – or the range of ways people discuss an issue – that feed into the policy design and development of sustainable energy futures. We especially invite papers that investigate cases from non-Western countries.