Abstract
This paper examines renewable energy policy in Bulgaria and Romania between 2007 and 2017 and explains the reasons behind the unexpected rapid growth in renewables and the dramatic policy reversal that followed. Whilst we find strong formal compliance with EU legislation regarding targets for renewable energy, an examination of institutional change and policy dismantling in both countries finds that this was not supported by a paradigmatic policy change or an accompanying transformation of the energy system. Veto players, including powerful state actors, worked to dismantle renewable energy policy once targets were reached. Our article explores how insights from the intersection of socio-technical systems and historical institutionalist literatures can contribute to explaining policy dismantling in the energy sector. In doing so, we develop a socio-technical account of renewable policy in Romania and Bulgaria. We show that this is related to the historically conditioned, path dependent processes of institutional change where energy materiality shapes the parameters of political possibility and the costs of policy implementation.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 611-625 |
| Journal | Public Administration |
| Volume | 96 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Early online date | 12 Jul 2018 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Sept 2018 |
Keywords
- Renewable energy transitions
- path-dependence
- policy change
- co-evolution
- veto players
- socio-technical systems
