Christoph H. Stefes

Driving energy: the enactment and ambitiousness of state renewable energy policy

U.S. states have led the federal government in instituting policies aimed at promoting renewable energy. Nearly all research on renewable portfolio standards (RPSs) has treated RPS adoption as a binary choice. Given the substantial variation in the renewable energy goals established by RPSs, we propose a new measure of RPS ambition that accounts for the amount of additional renewable energy production needed to reach the RPS goal and the number of years allotted to reach the standard. By measuring RPS policy with more precision, our analysis demonstrates that many factors found to affect whether a state will adopt an RPS do not exert a similar effect on the policy’s ambitiousness. Most notably, our analysis demonstrates that Democratic control of the state legislature is the most consequential factor in determining the ambitiousness of state RPS policies.

Historischer Institutionalismus und Gesellschaftstransformation

Wann, warum und wie transformieren sich Gesellschaften? Um diese drei wichtigen Fragen zu beantworten, stutzt sich der theoretische Ansatz des Historischen Institutionalismus (HI) auf geschichtliche sowie institutionelle Einflusse. Im HI werden gesellschaftliche Transformationen als distinkte historische Prozesse betrachtet, um zu betonen, dass der Zeitpunkt, der Ablauf und die Dauer solcher Prozesse einen deutlichen Einfluss auf die Qualitat und die Richtung gesellschaftlicher Transformationen besitzen. Institutionen spielen dabei eine zentrale Rolle, da sie Gesellschaftstransformationen in bestimmte Bahnen lenken und so wiederkehrende Verwerfungen und Umbruche verhindern konnen. Der HI analysiert also Mechanismen von Stabilitat und Wandel bei Gesellschaftstransformationen.

Summary of Findings and the Way Forward

In this final chapter, the main findings of the cases studies are reviewed and summarized, highlighting differences and similarities and drawing policy lessons for national and EU policy-makers. A first step in studying the environmental crimes addressed by the different case studies was to understand the nature, the aetiology, and the illegal reality around them. The core focus of the case studies was not only to investigate causes and motivations of illegal environmental misconducts looking at the behaviours of offenders and responsible for harms and crimes in question, but also to shed some light on the victims of environmental crimes and how they are victimized. Often perceived as ‘victimless’, in fact, environmental crimes often do not have immediate consequences and the harm may be diffused or go undetected for several years but the cumulative impact of repeated violations in the long-run can be irreparable. Some of the case studies demonstrated, moreover, that enforcement of laws is inadequate to deal with the fight against environmental crimes. At the European level and beyond, efforts to tackle environmental crimes have often been offset by an unsystematic and heterogeneous enforcement approach where the deputed agencies and institutions approach environmental crime without really reducing the dimensions and the magnitude of the phenomenon. The implications of the above multifaceted analysis are drawn for suggesting some policy-making recommendations. It is hoped that the book will contribute to a greater awareness and a critical understanding of how the framework and institutions of environmental policy-making can be improved, at the national and European level.

Critical Junctures and the German Energiewende

In this chapter, Stefes analyzes how Germany’s federal government has promoted the energy transition, from the introduction of the Feed-In Tariff (FIT) Law in 1990 to the reforms of the Renewable Energy Law in 2014. A historical institutionalist account frames this analysis, showing how the FIT Law and subsequent legislation have unleashed a mutually reinforcing political and economic dynamic that has allowed a small pro-RE coalition to overcome resistance from the powerful coal and nuclear lobby. Yet he also demonstrates how opponents of the German Energiewende have time and again attempted to subvert this project through various legal and public campaigns.

Conclusion: Lessons from the German Energiewende

In the concluding chapter, Stefes highlights the uniqueness of the German energy transition as a bottom-up project in a country that is otherwise known for top-down policymaking. He further points that the Energiewende has remained incomplete, as the promotion of energy efficiency and renewable energy in the transport and heating sectors—in contrast to the electricity sector—has been slow. The chapter ends with a comparison of the German case with the other three countries analyzed in this book, assessing to what extent energy transitions are possible in the USA, China, and Japan.

Armenia: A Case Study on Mining

As a member of the European Neighbourhood Policy, Armenia is politically and economically closely linked to the European Union. As most former Soviet republics, Armenia has inherited a host of environmental problems. Since independence, Armenia has done little to address these problems despite the country’s willingness to sign and ratify numerous international environmental treaties and conventions. Environmental destruction is especially apparent in the mining sector, one of Armenia’s few thriving economic sectors. Domestic laws and enforcement are wholly insufficient to regulate the country’s mining industry, which pollutes ground, water resources, and air and devastates Armenia’s pristine nature. Some of these acts are illegal under Armenian law. Yet insufficient law enforcement and adjudication as well as widespread corruption contribute to an atmosphere of impunity. Yet most environmentally harmful behaviour is even legal under domestic law. The reason for lax environmental legislation is thereby collusion between powerful economic players and the government. The country’s oligarchs who are politically well connected dominate the mining sector that consists of mostly foreign (including, European) companies and their Armenian subsidiaries. Since corruption and collusion prevent the passing of more stringent environmental legislation, it is questionable if a narrow legal approach to environmental crime in Armenia’s mining sector suffices to analyse, understand, and address the problem. Mining companies pollute the environment primarily for financial purposes. Yet the collusion of political and economic actors also hints at the underlying political goals of corrupted state officials who depend on the political and financial support of the country’s oligarchs. The very collusion of public and private interests is thereby the main facilitating factor for environmental crime in Armenia’s mining sector. The main victims are the people living close to the hundreds of mining sites in the country. Yet pollution also affects Armenians further away as well as the citizens of Armenia’s neighbouring countries due to water and air pollution and the contamination of agricultural products. Moreover, other economic sectors such as the country’s tourism industry suffer. Mining in Armenia is an important driver of the economy for the moment. Yet it is also a wholly unsustainable economic sector. At this point, environmental NGOs and citizen movements are the only viable actors in Armenia that have had some success in limiting harmful mining activities. Their principal means are thereby the naming and shaming of politicians and business people. Their attempts to stop mining activities in local courts have however largely failed. The Armenian government is thereby in clear violation of several international treaties it signed (e.g. the Aarhus Convention). This is the arena in which the EU and its member states could exert some leverage. They could remind the Armenian government of its international obligations and put some diplomatic and economic pressure on it. They could support the country’s environmental groups through technical training, financial resources, and diplomatic support. So far, European actors have largely failed to do so.

Democracy in Central Asia. Competing perspectives and alternative strategies, by Mariya Y. Omelicheva

conditions. It would have been interesting to see her overall argument tested empirically in one model in order to assess how these factors relate to each other. In addition, she states that these factors are typically present in established democracies (170), but does not systematically analyse the practice of authoritarian rulers to intentionally manipulate elections. Furthermore, due to her focus on structural factors and reliance on a cross-sectional data set, the analysis remains quite static and neither addresses sources for changes in election quality nor the role of important actors, such as governments and opposition parties. Nevertheless, Why Elections Fail provides valuable insights into the state of the world’s elections. The book is relevant for experts and novices alike. Norris’ engaging and clear style of writing ensures that the book also resonates with an audience outside academia. It gives an excellent overview of the current state of research on elections across the world and offers inspiration for seasoned election experts, too. In 2016, Norris is scheduled to publish the final volume of her trilogy on electoral integrity on the policy implications of her findings. It is awaited with high expectations.