The Swiss energy policy elite: The actor constellation of a policy domain in transition

Energy policy has been considered as a “special case of Europeanization,” due to its tardy and patchy development as a domain of EU activity as well as its important but highly contested external dimension. Divergent energy pathways across Member States and the sensitivity of this policy domain have militated against a unified European Energy Policy. And yet, since the mid-2000s cooperation in this policy area has picked up speed, leading to the adoption of the Energy Union, presented by the European Commission as the most ambitious energy initiative since the European Coal and Steel Community. This dynamism has attracted growing scholarly attention, seeking to determine whether, why and how European Energy Policy has consolidated against all odds during a particularly critical moment for European integration. The underlying question that emerges in this context is whether the Energy Union represents a step forward towards a more homogenous and joined-up energy policy or, rather a strategy to manage heterogeneity through greater flexibility and differentiated integration. Given the multilevel and multisectoral characteristics of energy policy, answering these questions requires a three-fold analysis of (1) the degree of centralization of European Energy Policy (vertical integration), (2) the coherence between energy sub-sectors (cross-sectoral integration), and (3) the territorial extension of the energy acquis beyond the EU Member States (horizontal integration). Taken together, the Energy Union has catalyzed integration on the three dimensions. First, EU institutions are formally involved in almost every aspect of energy policy, including sensitive areas such as ensuring energy supplies. Second, the Energy Union, with its new governance regulation, brings under one policy framework energy sub-sectors that had developed in silos. And finally, energy policy is the only sector that has generated a multilateral process dedicated to the integration of non-members into the EU energy market. However, this integrationist dynamic has also been accompanied by an increase in internal and external differentiation. Although structural forms of differentiation based on sectoral opt-outs and enhanced cooperation have been averted, European Energy Policy is an example of so-called “micro-differentiation,” characterized by flexible implementation, soft governance and tailor-made exemptions and derogations.

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Conceptualizing integrated policymaking: Does the diversification of environmental policy instruments contribute to increased sustainability?

The European Journal of Applied Economics ◽

10.5937/ejae17-26902 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (2) ◽

pp. 54-66

Author(s):

Vlastimir Vučić ◽

Miljana Radović-Vučić

Keyword(s):

Environmental Policy ◽

Energy Policy ◽

Policy Making ◽

Policy Instruments ◽

Societal Issues ◽

Environmental Policy Instruments ◽

Policy Domain ◽

Environmental Objectives ◽

Integrated Policy ◽

Low Levels

Most urgent societal issues are crosscutting the boundaries of established jurisdiction. The conventional environmental policy domain is unable to achieve environmental objectives by itself, and each policy sector must integrate environmental objectives. For instance, the lack of clarity of how the integration of environmental objectives into energy policy has transformed and modified energy policy is the reason behind the low levels of integrated policy-making achieved. The present research attempts to clarify how the diversification of environmental policy instruments contributes to integrated policy-making. The present research explicitly confirms that that an increase in the extent of inclusion of environmental policy instruments within relevant policy domains increases to the extent of diversification of environmental policy instruments; that an increase in the extent of inclusion of environmental policy instruments within relevant policy domains and structures that coordinate and monitor efforts within relevant policy domains increases to the extent of diversification of environmental policy instruments; and, that an increase in the extent of inclusion of environmental policy instruments within relevant policy domains ultimately resulting in a cross-sectoral instrument blend results in the increase in the extent of diversification of environmental policy instruments.

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Reassembling Energy Policy

Science & Technology Studies ◽

10.23987/sts.65324 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 32 (4) ◽

pp. 13-35 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Stefan Cihan Aykut

Keyword(s):

Energy Policy ◽

Energy Systems ◽

Policy Networks ◽

Scenario Building ◽

Policy Domain ◽

Energy Models ◽

Energy Modelling ◽

Post War ◽

Anthropology Of Politics

Ongoing debates about the need to deeply transform energy systems worldwide have spurred renewed scholarly interest in the role of future-visions and foreknowledge in energy policy. Forecasts and scenarios are in fact ubiquitous in energy debates: commonly calculated using energy models, they are employed by governments, administrations and civil society actors to identify problems, choose between potential solutions, and justify specific forms of political intervention. This article contributes to these debates through a historic study of foreknowledge-making – modelling, forecasting, and scenario-building – and its relationship to the structuring of ‘energy policy’ as an autonomous policy domain in France and Germany. It brings together two strands of literature: work in the anthropology of politics on ‘policy assemblages’, and STS research on the ‘performative’ effects of foreknowledge. The main argument is that new ways of assembling energy systems in energy modelling, and of bringing together policy networks in scenario-building and forecasting exercises, can contribute to policy change. To analyse the conditions under which such change occurs, the article focuses on two periods: the making of national energy policies as ‘energy supply policies’ in the post-war decades; and challenges to dominant approaches to energy policy and energy modelling in the 1970s and 1980s. It concludes by arguing that further research should not only focus on the effects of foreknowledge on expectations and beliefs (‘discursive performativity’), but also take into account how new models ‘equip’ political, administrative and market actors (‘material performativity’), and how forecasting practices recompose and shape wider policy worlds (‘social performativity’).

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Conclusions: patterns of Europeanization and policy change in the renewable energy policy domain

A Guide to EU Renewable Energy Policy ◽

10.4337/9781783471560.00027 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 289-314 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Helge Jörgens ◽

Eva Öller ◽

Israel Solorio

Keyword(s):

Renewable Energy ◽

Energy Policy ◽

Policy Change ◽

Renewable Energy Policy ◽

Policy Domain

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Europæisk afhængighed af russisk gas – Har vi noget at frygte?

Politik ◽

10.7146/politik.v14i3.27489 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 14 (3) ◽

Author(s):

Jakob Riiskjær Nygård ◽

Søren Mollerup Rasmussen

Keyword(s):

Foreign Policy ◽

Energy Policy ◽

Policy Instrument ◽

Policy Debates ◽

European Energy Policy ◽

Realist Analysis ◽

Policy Elite ◽

Supply Interruptions ◽

The Right ◽

Vladimir Putin

The Russo-Ukranian gas dispute of 2009 has sent ripples through European energy policy debates. Does dependence on Russian gas represent a threat to European energy security via politically motivated supply interruptions? Or was the conflict simply a dispute over the right price of a good?This paper represents a contribution to this debate. Rather than focusing on the outcomes of or motives behind the conflict, we conduct a neoclassical realist analysis of Russian foreign energy policy in order to assess Russia’s ability to use gas as a political instrument of coercion. Our analysis will show that structural conditions promote an increasing emphasis on gas. Furthermore we will show that this shift translates into Russian foreign policy elite consensus about using gas as a foreign policy instrument, and that this consensus is facilitated by an increase in state cohesion since Vladimir Putin assumed the offce of president in 2000.

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Decision-making in the Swiss Energy Policy Elite

Journal of Public Policy ◽

10.1017/s0143814x0000074x ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

pp. 21-53 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Hanspeter Kriesi ◽

Maya Jegen

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Energy Efficiency ◽

Policy Analysis ◽

Energy Policy ◽

Rapid Change ◽

Policy Instruments ◽

Core Beliefs ◽

Policy Context ◽

Policy Elite ◽

Choice Approach

This paper analyzes choices concerning the increase of energy efficiency made by the Swiss energy policy elite; it is based on interviews with 240 of its members. It starts from the assumption that choices depend on characteristics of the actors involved (their membership in policy coalitions, their core beliefs etc.), the characteristics of the instruments (in particular their familiarity and the extent to which they impose constraints upon the coalitions involved) and of the policy context (policy equilibrium vs. rapid change). Depending on these characteristics, actors are expected to make choices which are to a greater or lesser degree value-rational or instrumentally rational. The results of the present analysis indicate that, rather than being exclusive alternatives, the two types of rationality often complement each other in choices among policy instruments. We hope that they provide a promising opening in the often rather sterile debate between advocates of the rational choice approach and practitioners of more classical approaches of policy analysis.

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METHODOLOGIES ASSOCIATED WITH EVALUATING ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY INTEGRATION (EPI) STRATEGIES – THE CASE OF EUROPEAN UNION (EU) ENERGY POLICY

Facta Universitatis, Series: Working and Living Environmental Protection ◽

10.22190/fuwlep1901037v ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 037

Author(s):

Vlastimir Vucic ◽

Miljana Radovic Vucic

Keyword(s):

Environmental Policy ◽

Energy Policy ◽

Social Acceptance ◽

Policy Support ◽

Policy Integration ◽

Climate Risks ◽

Environmental Policy Integration ◽

Policy Domain ◽

Production Type ◽

Environmental Objectives

Environmental policy integration (EPI) relates to the incorporation of environmental concerns in sectoral policies outside the conventional environmental policy domain. The sectoral policies have objectives that conflict environmental objectives and therefore have the perspective to influence root causes of environmental pressure. The integration between environment and energy policies is a standpoint upon which the EU has influenced energy governance. There is still a lack of precision how the relationship between both policies has transformed and modified energy policy. Ideally, the performance of EPI strategies is evaluated in terms of physical indicators such as CO2 emissions, environmental quality, reduction of climate risks, etc. Because this is difficult, if not impossible, reported levels of EPI relate to policy processes and outputs only. Market-based mechanisms are regarded as an EPI strategy where they are implemented in sectoral policies. Recent studies have shown that these strategies can be efficient in stimulating environmental protection and that this depends on the price set and on enforcement. This paper proposes a model built around five aspects of policy support for renewable electricity (RES-E) production: type of policy scheme, level of support, duration of support, length of the administrative process and social acceptance. The purpose of this paper is therefore to contribute to more effective EPI strategies by developing a framework on the governance of EPI.

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