This book explores the role which policy networks and particularly advocacy coalitions play in EU energy policy, and the factors that account for their policy success. It captures the often neglected interaction between public and private actors in EU energy security policy and between opposing advocacy coalitions. The volume’s case studies examine coalitions working on two issues central to EU energy policy debates over the last decade: fracking for shale gas and developing the Southern Gas Corridor, a pipeline system linking Europe with the gas region of the Caspian Sea. Although the coalitions studied are focused on impacting EU energy policy, they stretch beyond the EU borders. The book draws on original, rich, and intriguing data, around 90 interviews with energy stakeholders and over six months of fieldwork and participant observation, analysed through an innovative combination of frame analysis and social network analysis.

The book adopts an innovative analytical approach to agenda setting by not only presenting successful cases in which energy issues were addressed by means of public policy, but by also analyzing failed attempts to make issues part of the European policy agenda. Another outstanding feature of the book is its use of the latest empirical data on a broad range of energy issues. When are energy issues likely to find their way to the agenda of European policymakers? This is the key research question guiding this collection of empirical studies, which will shed light on both successful and unsuccessful attempts to include energy issues in the European agenda. The multi-level political system of the European Union represents a particularly fruitful setting for addressing this question due to the multiple institutional access points it provides for different groups of actors. The book has three key benefits. First, it provides a theory-informed analysis of agenda setting processes in general and in the European Union in particular. Second, it presents an overview of the most important and emerging dimensions on European energy policy, and third, it helps to develop a research agenda for future research in the field.

This book examines the ability of the EU and European actor networks to coherently and effectively navigate, manage, and influence debates and policy on the international stage. It also questions whether increasing complexity across a range of critical global issues and networks has affected this ability. Engaging with the growing theoretical and conceptual literature on networks and complexity, the book provides a deeper understanding of how the European Union and European actors navigate within global networks and complex regimes across a range of regulatory, policy cooperation, and foreign and security policy issue areas. It sheds light on how far they are able to respond to and shape solutions to some of the most pressing challenges on the global agenda in the 21st century. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of EU/European and global networks and more broadly to European and EU studies, Global Governance, International Relations, International Political Economy, and Foreign Policy and Security Studies.

This sparkling Handbook offers an unrivalled resource for those engaged in the cutting edge field of social network analysis. Systematically, it introduces readers to the key concepts, substantive topics, central methods and prime debates. Among the specific areas covered are: Network theory Interdisciplinary applications Online networks Corporate networks Lobbying networks Deviant networks Measuring devices Key Methodologies Software applications. The result is a peerless resource for teachers and students which offers a critical survey of the origins, basic issues and major debates. The Handbook provides a one-stop guide that will be used by readers for decades to come.

Climate Policy Changes in Germany and Japan compares two decades of climate policy development in Germany and Japan. It examines whether there is any difference between the types and levels of policy change in the two countries, and, if so, what factors account for the difference. Using a comparison of climate policy changes in Germany and Japan from 1987 to 2005 as a basis, it also discusses the effectiveness and the limits of existing theories of policy change and policy process, most notably the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF), Punctuated Equilibrium Approach and Multiple Stream Approach, and explores the theoretical question as to how long-term, paradigmatic policy change takes place. The book lastly presents a hypothetical model of the mechanisms of paradigmatic policy change. The two countries form a useful comparative approach to the issue of climate change. They represent the range of types and levels of changes in policies to control CO2 emissions in the industrial and energy sectors (dependent variables), while also demonstrating similarities in a number of independent variables: the size and structure of their economies; their shares in global GHG emissions; their general policy-making styles, including strong administrative systems and close relationships between ministries and industries; and their general environmental policies. Climate Policy Changes in Germany and Japan will be of interest to students and scholars of environmental and comparative politics.

Prior to the European Union (EU) 2004/2007 enlargement there were several predictions that this event would hamper progressive decision-making within the EU on environmental policy. It was believed that the new member states had adopted EU rules as a consequence of the EU's conditionality and consequently they would rather slow down the reform speed in the field after accession. In this book, Mats Braun offers an up-to-date account of how post-communist member states have handled policy initiatives in the field of environmental policy after accession. Using detailed case studies of how Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania dealt with two different EU policy initiatives - REACH and the Climate-Energy Package - he explores whether social norms and the process of socialization can help us understand why the track record of new member states in the area of environmental policy is more varied than was originally envisaged prior to enlargement.

This book investigates why European associations form interest coalitions, which strategies these coalitions pursue to influence the EU institutions, and how persistent they are over time. In this context, questions concerning the transparency of European decision-making are approached. The field of European energy policy serves as empirical background, providing a valuable insight into a little researched area of European politics.

Bringing together a mixture of theoretical discussion, political analyses and illustrative case studies, this volume provides the first comprehensive scholarly analysis of the tension between environmental protection and economic development in Turkey. Through its dual focus on democratization and modernization, this book also makes an important contribution to the literature on politics in contemporary Turkey. It identifies and analyses the forces underwriting the growth of environmental social movements, investigates the impacts these movements have on development and modernization, and above all, evaluates the role played by environmental movements in the democratization process of Turkey.

Market and competition authorities operate in a complex environment with conflicting stakeholder demands. Balancing the various interests of the authority and stakeholder in an objective and impartial manner is strategic to achieving the goals of the legislation imposed. In a fresh approach examining the actions of an authority when a regulation is applied, Annetje Ottow argues the vital importance of the behavior of authorities, focusing on five fundamental good agency principles: legality, independence, transparency, effectiveness, and responsibility, or, LITER. These principles provide agencies and those reviewing their actions with a framework for agency design and action. Combining theory and practice to provide insight into agencies' organization and behavior, this book outlines and analyses behavioral issues using an ecosystemic method, addressing how independent agencies should be assessed, and which principles should apply. Using cases from the Netherlands and the UK, Ottow examines the key processes of authorities against the LITER principles, and opens the debate on 'how to regulate the agency'.

This book considers the environmental policies that the EU employs outside its borders. Using a systematic and coherent approach to cover a range of EU activities, environmental issues, and geographical areas, it charts the EU’s attempts to shape environmental governance beyond its borders. Key questions addressed include: What environmental norms, rules and policies does the EU seek to promote outside its territory? What types of activities does the EU engage in to pursue these objectives? How successful is the EU in achieving its external environmental policy objectives? What factors explain the degree to which the EU attains its goals? The book will be of interest to students and academics as well as practitioners in governments (both inside and outside of the EU), the EU institutions, think tanks, and research institutes.