The Energy Politics of Japan

2020 ◽  
pp. 561-589
Author(s):  
Trevor Incerti ◽  
Phillip Y. Lipscy
Keyword(s):  
Energy Conservation ◽  
Energy Policy ◽  
Energy Security ◽  
Nuclear Energy ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Nuclear Disaster ◽  
Energy Needs ◽  
Security Challenges ◽  
Energy Politics ◽  
Fukushima Nuclear Disaster

Japanese energy policy has attracted renewed attention since the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. However, Japan’s energy challenges are nothing new; as a country poor in natural resources, it has long struggled to meet its energy needs. This chapter provides an overview of Japanese energy politics, focusing on three broad topics: Japan’s modernization and energy security challenges, the politics of the utilities sector and nuclear energy, and the politics of energy conservation and climate change. In addition, the chapter discusses factors specific to Japan, such as state-business relations in the utilities sector and institutional changes since the 1990s. Japan offers both compelling puzzles—several transformative shifts in energy conservation policy, limited emphasis on renewables despite persistent energy security concerns, and reinvigoration of nuclear energy despite the Fukushima disaster—as well as important empirical opportunities for theory testing. The chapter concludes by calling for additional research that integrates insights from Japan into broader theoretical and cross-national scholarship, examines Japanese energy policy within an international context, and uses rigorous causal identification strategies to evaluate Japanese energy policy. Finally, it identifies the politics of decarbonization in Japan as a critical area for future research.

The Energy Politics of the United States

2020 ◽  
pp. 371-405
Author(s):  
Juliann Emmons Allison ◽  
Srinivas Parinandi
Keyword(s):  
Energy Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Future Research Agenda ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
Energy Politics ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Subnational Governance

This chapter examines the development and politics of US energy policy, with an emphasis on three themes: the distribution of authority to regulate energy between national (or federal) and subnational governments, the relationship between energy and environmental policy and regulation, and the role of climate action in energy politics. It reviews patterns of energy production and consumption; provides an overview of national energy politics; and reviews literatures on federalism and energy politics and policy, the increasing integration of energy and environmental policies, and the politics of energy and climate action. The chapter concludes with a discussion of a future research agenda that underscores the significance of political polarization, subnational governance, and technological innovation for understanding US energy policy.

Facing a Crisis with Calmness? The Global Response to the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster

2012 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 441-466 ◽  
Author(s):  
YUICHI KUBOTA
Keyword(s):  
Risk Perception ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Nuclear Energy ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Efficient Production ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Nuclear Disaster ◽  
Level Of Economic Development ◽  
Fukushima Nuclear Disaster

AbstractLiterature expects that an attitude toward nuclear power is in direct proportion to the perceived risk of accidents at an operational nuclear power plant; that is, the oppositional attitude is based on the view that nuclear technology is risky and support for nuclear power is related to a perceived low risk and/or potential benefit. However, it is misleading to assume that individuals’ risk perception alone can linearly explain their position after such an accident. The association between risk perception and attitude toward nuclear power varies significantly according to country but, until now, has been largely unexamined. This article takes into consideration the effects of structural factors on that relationship by examining public attitudes toward nuclear energy after the Fukushima nuclear accident in March 2011 and reveals that the need for the efficient production of electricity (i.e., nuclear energy) outweighs concern for the potential danger of a nuclear incident. Although a country's dependence on nuclear power for the production of electricity engenders anti-nuclear attitudes, it is evident that a level of economic development largely alleviates any negativity relative to that energy source.

Post-Fukushima discourse in the US press: Quantified knowledge, the technical object, and a panicked public

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (7) ◽  
pp. 670-687
Author(s):  
Jonathan Tollefson
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Nuclear Energy ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Expert Knowledge ◽  
Public Support ◽  
The United States ◽  
Nuclear Industry ◽  
Technical Object ◽  
Nuclear Disaster ◽  
Fukushima Nuclear Disaster

Many thought that the 11 March 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan might be the end of the “global nuclear renaissance.” In Europe, mass media after Fukushima increasingly presented negative framing of nuclear energy and highlighted declining support for the nuclear industry. In the United States, however, nuclear production and public support for the industry remained steady. This article analyzes US media documents to understand the construction of public discourse on nuclear power in the wake of the Fukushima disaster. Through a content analysis of US newspapers, it demonstrates that post-Fukushima media framed the crisis in a way that privileged expert knowledge and opinion, while delegitimizing non-expert engagement with nuclear energy issues. A comparison between national newspapers and newspapers located in two regions with controversial nuclear plants and active anti-nuclear citizens’ movements additionally demonstrates the power and reach of the identified framework across the spectrum of views on nuclear power.

scholarly journals Strategic Thinking in Resource Diversification: Assessing the Value of Nuclear Energy in Turkey

2020 ◽  
pp. 28-38
Author(s):  
Nurettin Altundeğer
Keyword(s):  
Energy Security ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Nuclear Energy ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Energy Needs ◽  
Foreign Countries ◽  
National Production ◽  
Phase Out ◽  
Energy Dependent

Turkey is an energy dependent country with more than 75 percent of its energy being imported from foreign countries. The level of dependency is increasing every year because of the rising energy needs and the lack of national production. Among all forms of energy, increase in demand for electricity is the highest. At a time that some countries are announcing their decision to phase out nuclear power plants (NPPs) in favor of renewable energy sources, Turkey appears to be determined to proceed with its decision to acquire nuclear technology despite safety concerns. A country that has seen domestic opposition towards nuclear energy has already made significant progress towards acquiring one. This article uses a policy analysis framework to assess the value of nuclear energy in Turkey from an energy security perspective. It argues that energy security for Turkey can be dealt with thoroughly when the problem of resource diversification is addressed from a comprehensive perspective. Pros and cons of having NPPs in Turkey will be analyzed through energy security parameters vis-a-vis the urgent need for resource diversification.

‘All of Ireland had been wiped out’: Irish Nuclear Anxiety and Éilís Ní Dhuibhne’s The Bray House

2021 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 247-262
Author(s):  
Val Nolan
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Nuclear Energy ◽  
Energy Industry ◽  
Old Irish ◽  
Nuclear Disaster ◽  
Narrative Structures ◽  
Energy Politics ◽  
Narrative Forms ◽  
Near Future

The Bray House (1990) is Éilís Ní Dhuibhne's curious and contested first novel, the story of a near-future archaeological expedition to an Ireland devastated by a British nuclear disaster. It is a book which has offered much analytical fodder to readers and critics alike, with the question of the novel's genre continually in flux since its publication. This article argues that, in The Bray House, Ní Dhuibhne consciously inverts Old Irish narrative forms to create a work of speculative writing which yokes together the seemingly contradictory concerns of the Gaelic literary tradition and contemporary Irish anxiety about vulnerabilities to the British nuclear energy industry. It examines how the author combines unease over international energy politics with native narrative structures to create a work which sits comfortably within the genre of science fiction. It considers how The Bray House brings to light what Darko Suvin calls the ‘congeneric elements in the cognitive and marvellous bias of the voyage extraordinaire’, in this case the Old Irish Echtra form. Particular attention is paid throughout to how science fiction (specifically the techno-Robinsonade model) allows Ní Dhuibhne to vividly express Irish national concerns over the presence of the Sellafield nuclear power plant in the late 1980s.

The Environmentalists Struggle with Energy Security Or: If Maslow Were in Energy Politics

2006 ◽  
pp. 104-113
Author(s):  
C. Frei
Keyword(s):  
Energy Policy ◽  
Energy Security ◽  
Energy Supply ◽  
Social Acceptance ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Policy Agenda ◽  
Energy Costs ◽  
Historical Evidence ◽  
Energy Politics ◽  
Energy Supply Security

The article claims that access to energy, supply security, energy costs, environmental issues and social acceptance are subject not to trade-off, but to a hierarchy that underlies the importance of satisfying lower order needs before addressing the higher order ones. The following essay demonstrates the hierarchy with an "energy policy needs pyramid" based on historical evidence. The pyramid is used to analyze the viability of current items of the energy policy agenda.

The Energy Politics of the European Union

2020 ◽  
pp. 428-464
Author(s):  
Kirsten Westphal
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Energy Security ◽  
Primary Objective ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Economic Weight ◽  
Energy Politics ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

Energy politics in the European Union is characterized by a combination of intergovernmental and supranational forms of governance. Scholars analyze the EU’s energy politics through the lenses of various theoretical approaches, with intergovernmental and neofunctional/supranational approaches dominating. The two approaches explain certain dynamics within the EU and the balance of power between Brussels and the member states. Energy policy is guided by the strategic energy triangle of sustainability, competitiveness, and energy security. The EU’s Energy Union marks a substantial shift: internally, to incorporate energy security as a primary objective together with sustainability and competitiveness; and externally, to use the EU’s economic weight and regulatory power in relation to external actors. Given its multilateral and rules-based character, the EU sui generis relies on a corresponding international environment and the liberal global order. The chapter concludes with suggestions for future research on EU governance to achieve its climate and energy targets, the role of the EU in the global energy landscape, and the impact of energy transformation.

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