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Governing for sustainable energy system change : politics, contexts and contingency
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Kuzemko, Caroline (2016) Governing for sustainable energy system change : politics, contexts and contingency. Energy Research & Social Science, 12 . pp. 96-105. doi:10.1016/j.erss.2015.12.022 ISSN 2214-6296.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2015.12.022
Abstract
This paper offers a new, interdisciplinary framework for the analysis of governing for sustainable energy system change by drawing together insights from, and offering critiques of, socio-technical transitions and new institutionalist concepts of change. Institutions of all kinds, including rules and norms within political and energy systems, tend to have path-dependent qualities that make them difficult to change, whereas we also know that profound change has occurred in the past. Current decisions to pursue climate change mitigation by dramatically changing how energy is produced and used depend to some extent on finding the right enabling conditions for such change. The approach adopted here reveals the highly political and contingent nature of attempts to govern for innovations, how political institutions mediate differently between forces for sustainable change and forces for continuity, as well as specific interactions between governance and practice change within energy systems. It concludes that it is only by being specific about the contingent nature of governing for innovations, and about how this affects practices in energy systems differently, that those of us interested in sustainability can credibly advise policy makers and drive for greater change.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
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Subjects: | J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe) > JN101 Great Britain T Technology > TD Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering |
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Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Politics and International Studies | ||||||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Climate change mitigation -- Government policy -- Great Britain, Climate change mitigation -- Law and legislation -- Great Britain, Energy consumption -- Government policy -- Great Britain, Energy consumption -- Law and legislation -- Great Britain, Sustainable engineering -- Government policy -- Great Britain, Sustainable engineering -- Law and legislation -- Great Britain | ||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Energy Research & Social Science | ||||||||
Publisher: | Elsevier | ||||||||
ISSN: | 2214-6296 | ||||||||
Official Date: | February 2016 | ||||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 12 | ||||||||
Page Range: | pp. 96-105 | ||||||||
DOI: | 10.1016/j.erss.2015.12.022 | ||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) | ||||||||
Funder: | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) | ||||||||
Grant number: | EP/K001582/1 | ||||||||
Open Access Version: |
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