Repeated claims have been made since the early 2000s that UK energy, and its governance, is 'in transition'. In this thesis it is argued, using a conceptual framework informed largely but by no means exclusively by ideational institutionalism, that although UK energy governance, policy and associated institutions have been undergoing a period of continuous crisis, challenge and change, a policy paradigm shift cannot as yet be claimed. This is because UK energy governance processes have not fully rejected some of the ideas upon which the 'pro-market' system was founded in the early 1980s, and due to a lack of credibility in alternative frameworks and solutions. Governance practices do, however, appear to show tendential signs of policy paradigm change. This process of change has been initiated largely in response to public and political concerns about the security of energy supplies, which emerged in the mid 2000s, in addition to growing political support in the UK for measures to mitigate climate change. To the extent that any new 'norms' can be claimed it is suggested here that the emergence of an 'energy-security-climate nexus' in energy governance processes is of particular significance. This nexus reflects the appropriation of the idea that domestic energy production is more 'secure' by climate change protagonists looking to encourage support for increased renewable energy production in the UK. It also reflects a long-standing climate idea that decisions about energy and climate policy should be reached through inter-linked processes. This thesis provides an analysis of change and continuity in UK energy governance from 2000 to 2010 with a particular emphasis on the various ideas, about both energy and its governance, that have informed policymaking as well as the alternative narratives which have called for changes. The thesis is informed empirically by a range of policy documents, including White Papers, Acts, reports and formal reviews, presentations by policy-makers and analysts, and secondary literature. This material has been crosschecked against a limited number of unstructured interviews with policymakers, analysts, consultants and Government advisors. Academic, media, thinktank and other third party literature has also been used to inform and construct those narratives which have, over this period of time, presented critiques of and alternatives to the 'status quo' in energy policymaking.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:560167 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Kuzemko, Caroline |
| Publisher | University of Warwick |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/48684/ |
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