Energy Transition in Europe and the United States: Policy Entrepreneurs and Veto Players in Federalist Systems

Abstract

The focus of this special issue is on the energy transformations taking place in several European countries (Austria, Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland) and at the federal and subnational (state) levels in the United States with special attention given to California. The cases examined all have federalist structures, and with the exception of the federal level of the United States, all have relatively ambitious climate and renewable energy targets. We compare these states out of an interest in better understanding how federalism interacts with energy transitions. The comparison is also intriguing as at the federal level the United States presents a stark contrast with the federalist European countries considered in this special issue but at the subnational level many similarities can be found.

Decentralisation and inclusivity in the energy sector: Preconditions, impacts and avenues for further research

“…This Special Issue focusses on energy decentralisation; how it is conceptualised, how it is taking shape across various regions in the world, and its impacts, with a special focus on the institutional and policy context constraining and enabling it. It joins a growing literature that is shedding light on how institutional arrangements, energy sector composition and policy processes that influence agency and 'institutional space' for new and incumbent actors, shaping the dynamics of discourse, policy and regulation, and ultimately shaping the forms, extent and impacts of third-party uptake and engagement in the energy transition [13][14][15][16][17][18]. In this Special Issue, we draw on a remarkable range of articles examining decentralisation, its impacts and/or institutional preconditions from the United States [19][20][21], Sweden [21], UK [22], Denmark [23], South Africa [24], Germany [25], France [22,26], Japan [21,27], the Netherlands [21], Australia [21], as well as broader regional reviews [6,7,28].…”

The Italian energy transition in a multilevel system: between reinforcing dynamics and institutional constraints

“…Scharpf 1988 ; Ohlhorst 2015 ; Balthasar et al. 2020 ; Karapin 2020 ). Interactive policy-making can trigger negative policy feedbacks that undermine rather than reinforce policy development.…”

Climate Change Politics in Canada and the EU—from Carbon Democracy to a Green Deal?

“…To answer this question, we have to look at how politics affects efforts to pursue green transformations. The literature on climate politics has advanced various explanations including veto-players (Ike 2020), the capitalist system (Brand and Wissen 2017), domestic politics (Sprinz and Weiß 2001), national-subnational interlinkages (Balthasar, Schreurs, and Varone 2019), and, most recently, energy cultures (Stephenson, Sovacool, and Inderberg 2021). The concept of carbon democracy nicely complements these explanations by focusing on the materiality of carbon and the repercussions its rising use has had for the development of specific political systems.…”