Varieties of clean energy transitions in Europe: Political-economic foundations of onshore and offshore wind development

The paper introduces a novel framework for classifying different types of national political economies. It applies the outlined framework to analyse in an historical perspective the development of one mature renewable energy sector (onshore wind) and one infant renewable energy sector (offshore wind) across three major types of European economies. The paper shows that the presence of strategic state-market coordination and the decentralized pluralist polity constitute key enabling factors that drive the development of new renewable energy technologies. The commonalities and differences in the political economy of the onshore and offshore wind sectors are also discussed

The Two Faces of the ‘Global Right’: Revolutionary Conservatives and National-Conservatives

Studies of the Global Right usually trace its intellectual underpinnings to the revolutionary conservative New Right and its ideas claiming to defend an ‘ethno-pluralist’ European identity from the multiculturalist threat of a ‘Great Replacement’ through immigration. A second lineage, which we refer to as ‘national-conservative’, is less explored and is more concerned with threats to moral order and the loss of moral bearing due to liberalism’s relativism. These two intellectual lineages, and corresponding political alignments, engender different political projects of the Global Right, which is not that coherent as it seems. Taking a long-term historical-ideational perspective that underlines the power of ideologies as templates, we argue that a closer look at the different intellectual traditions of the Global Right can help explain the contrasting political preferences for socio-economic action, institution-building and transnational cooperation

Civil Society Organisations beyond the European Union: Normative Expectations and Local Realities

This article analyses the development of the EU's external civil society agenda and how this is interpreted by various actors. Using qualitative interviews carried out in Ukraine, Georgia and Brussels, the article shows how the EU's external civil society agenda has developed in parallel with the EU's internal ‘governance turn’. Changes in this narrative from a partnership-orientated role towards a more political watchdog-role for civil society organisations are (re)interpreted differently by EU actors, EU-based civil society organisations and those in the neighbourhood countries. By focusing on localised interpretations and the inherent contradictions this policy produces, this article shows that civil society's new watchdog role is not only directed towards controlling domestic governments but also the EU

Bauchgefühle, Faustregeln oder Kopfentscheidungen: Die Rolle von Heuristiken bei Entscheidungen politischer Eliten

Die kognitionswissenschaftliche Entscheidungsforschung hat in den letzten Jahren in einer Reihe von Nachbardisziplinen der Politikwissenschaft wie der Ökonomie und der Rechtswissenschaft bedeutende Erfolge gefeiert. Nicht nur in der Politischen Psychologie, sondern auch in anderen politikwissenschaftlichen Subdisziplinen, etwa in der Wahl- und Einstellungsforschung, der Außenpolitikanalyse oder der Politikfeldforschung, sind Erkenntnisse aus dieser Forschungstradition von immer größerer Bedeutung. Dieser Beitrag diskutiert wichtige Entwicklungslinien der Forschungstradition über Heuristiken und bietet eine Übersicht der politikwissenschaftlichen Rezeption dieser Arbeiten. Ziel des Beitrags ist es, die kognitionswissenschaftlich fundierte Perspektive der Entscheidungsfindung für ein breiteres politikwissenschaftlich interessiertes Publikum bekannt zu machen und auf Möglichkeiten ihrer Anwendung in der qualitativ orientierten Regierungsforschung hinzuweisen. Der Beitrag fokussiert dabei auf Eliten als zentrale Akteure der politischen Entscheidungsfindung. Anhand eines Fallbeispiels aus dem Grenzgebiet der Europa- und Regierungsforschung wird illustriert, wie die dargestellte Literatur zu Heuristiken zusammen mit neo-institutionalistischen Ansätzen mit einigem Mehrwert angewendet werden kann.Behavioral perspectives have celebrated significant successes in a number of disciplines such as economics and law. Not only in political psychology are findings from this research tradition becoming increasingly important, but also in other subdisciplines of political science, such as electoral studies, foreign policy analysis, and policy field research. This article discusses important lines of development in the research program on heuristics and provides an overview of the political science reception of these works. The aim of the contribution is to popularize the behavioral decisionmaking agenda to a broader political science audience and to point to possibilities of its application in qualitatively oriented research. The contribution focuses on elites as central actors in political decision-making. Using a case study located at the intersection of European and domestic politics, the contribution illustrates the added value of the heuristics literature and how it can be combined with neo-institutionalist approaches

Evaluation Report of the Austrian Climate Citizens' Assembly: Assessment of input, process, and output

We carried out a mixed-method design to investigate the Austrian Climate Citizens' Assembly (CCA) input, process and output dimensions following the OECD's Evaluation Guidelines for Representative Deliberative Processes (2021). The following methods were used to deliver the empirical findings of this report: Document analysis and desk research, participant observation, semi-structured qualitative interviews, and media coverage review. The main findings are structured along the input, process and output dimension

Naturschutz als Einfallstor

Dass die Neue Rechte sich mit Natur befasst, ist nicht nur ideologisch, sondern auch strategisch motiviert. Ihre Aneignung bislang politisch eher links wahrgenommener Themen machen eine tiefergehende Auseinandersetzung mit diesem Phänomen unabdingbar

The Political Economy of EU Climate and Energy Policies in Central and Eastern Europe Revisited: Shifting Coalitions and Prospects for Clean Energy Transitions

The countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) have commonly been regarded as climate and energy policy laggards blocking more ambitious EU decarbonization targets. Although recent literature has increasingly acknowledged the differences in national positions on energy and climate issues among these states, there has been little comprehensive evidence about their positioning on EU climate and energy policies and the domestic interests which shape government preferences. The article addresses this gap by tracing the voting behavior of six CEE countries (Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania) on EU energy-related legislation in the Council of Ministers between 2007–2018. The article shows that the contestation of energy policies, particularly of climate-related legislation, in the Council of Ministers has increased over time and that these six CEE countries have indeed most often objected to the adoption of EU legislation. The CEE states do not, however, have a common regional positioning on all EU energy policies. Voting coalitions among the six CEE countries differ substantially across energy policy areas. The lack of a common regional position and changing national preferences have enabled the adoption of a relatively ambitious EU Energy and Climate Package for 2030. The differences in national voting patterns are explained by the evolving interests and the ability of key domestic political and economic actors to adapt to and explore benefits from the ever-expanding EU energy and climate policies