Atoms for Climate: Institutional development, critical junctures, and the IAEA’s positioning and communication on nuclear energy and climate change

Abstract

This research thesis puts forward an account of why the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) suddenly intensified its communication and positioning policy in favor of nuclear energy as a climate change solution since 2019. The case shows how the interpretation and implementation of international organizations’ (IOs) mandates develops in response to climate change and other exogenous and endogenous shocks. Borrowing heavily from historical institutionalist (HI) accounts I argue that the case represents a critical juncture, a period of temporary institutional and political flux at the IAEA caused by ideational changes, shocks and their exploitation by powerful and entrepreneurial actors who want to enact institutional change. The leadership of the IAEA faces constant contestation of its dual mandate to simultaneously safeguard and advance the peaceful uses of the atom and must be careful about maintaining its status as an ‘honest broker’ to maintain legitimacy and authority. The case study shows that publicly visible shocks like nuclear power plant accidents, such as the 1986 Chernobyl or 2011 Fukushima-Daiichi incidents have suppressive impacts on the Agency’s policy. Climate change, on the other hand, presents a legitimate opportunity for the Agency to execute its promotional mandate. Within this context the empirical evidence shows that it the sudden leadership change at the IAEA in 2019 generated the enabling conditions necessary for the policy outcome.