Politics and Nuclear Power
Politics and Nuclear Power

Author: Michael T. Hatch

Publisher: University Press of Kentucky

Published: 2021-12-15

Total Pages: 243

ISBN-13: 0813181968

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With the dramatic changes OPEC precipitated in the structure of world energy markets during the 1970s, energy became a central concern to policymakers throughout the industrialized West. This book ex-amines the responses of public officials in three leading European nations—the Federal Republic of Germany, France, and the Netherlands—to the energy crisis. As the study shows, the proposed energy programs in the three countries shared remarkable similarities; yet the policy outcomes were very different. To explain why, Michael T. Hatch goes beyond the specific content of government energy policy to include an analysis of the policymaking process itself. At the heart of the study is an exploration of the various dimensions of nuclear policy in West Germany. The political consensus on nuclear power that prevailed in the initial years following the energy crisis disintegrated as antinuclear "citizens' initiatives," the courts, and trade unions, as well as the traditional political parties, entered the policymaking process. Subsequent government efforts to resolve the political stalemate over nuclear power foundered in a morass of domestic electoral politics and an international debate over nuclear proliferation. Extending the analysis to comparisons with French and Dutch nuclear strategies, Hatch argues that the critical factor in determining nuclear policy was the manner in which the political system structured the nuclear debate. In contrast to West Germany, where the electoral and parliamentary systems enhanced the influence of the antinuclear "Greens," the electoral system and constellation of political parties in France served to dissipate the influence of the antinuclear forces. Thus in France the nuclear program en-countered few impediments. In the Netherlands, as in West Germany, government policy was paralyzed in the face of antinuclear sentiment across a broad spectrum of Dutch society. Hatch has provided here not only a useful examination of the development of energy policy in western Europe but also a case study of the close interplay between policy and politics.

The Politics of Nuclear Energy in Western Europe
The Politics of Nuclear Energy in Western Europe

Author: Wolfgang C. Müller

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018-01-26

Total Pages: 545

ISBN-13: 019252206X

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This volume investigates nuclear energy policies in Western Europe over the entire post-war period, but with special attention to the two most recent decades. The comparative analytical perspective draws on the interplay between voters' attitudes, challenging movements, party competition, and coalition formation. Spanning more than 60 years and 16 countries, the researchers examine the underlying causal processes leading to the observed varieties of Western European nuclear energy policies. Based on a mixed methods approach using both structured case studies as well as quantitative analyses, the study shows that the nature of party competition under given institutional contexts is a key-driver for, as a rule, tactically motivated governmental policy changes and stability, respectively. Part I introduces the practical and theoretical relevance of the topic. It outlines the reasoning of the major scientific contributions with regard to nuclear energy policies, and offers a theoretical alternative to the previous literatures that has been predominantly movements-oriented. Additionally, it provides core economic and political indicators of the changing role of nuclear energy in the countries. Part II consists of seven in-depth case studies where the outlined theoretical perspective is applied. Part III consists of a general summary, short narratives of the countries not covered in case studies, qualitative comparison and an assessment of the factors for policy change from multivariate analysis.

Collapse of an Industry
Collapse of an Industry

Author: John L. Campbell

Publisher: Cornell University Press

Published: 2019-01-24

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 150173363X

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The commercial nuclear power industry was flourishing in the United States in the early 1970s; fifteen years later, the enterprise had collapsed. John L. Campbell examines the history of this debacle in order to explore how state and market shape each other under modern capitalism. In Collapse of an Industry, Campbell confronts controversial issues whose implications range far beyond the specifics of the nuclear power industry: the relative merits of free and controlled markets, the reliability of industrial planning, and the appropriate role of the state in managing economic activity. Ultimately, Campbell sheds light on the central question of whether modern democracy and capitalism may be essentially incompatible. A complex, expensive, and potentially very dangerous technology, nuclear energy requires careful long-range planning to sustain commercial success. Campbell's narrative account shows how political and economic institutions unique to the United States made the nuclear energy industry particularly vulnerable to a series of policy failures that undermined that planning. Drawing on industry histories and trade publications, government documents and personal interviews, he considers four key areas central to the collapse of the sector: competition and the failure to standardize equipment; growing public concern over reactor safety and the disposal of radioactive waste; the industry's financial crisis; and the complex politics of regulation. Campbell argues that the democratic institutions of the contemporary United States will not support the predictable conditions needed for accumulation in so capital-intensive and potentially hazardous a sector as commercial nuclear power. He emphasizes the importance of institutional forms to the making of public policy by contrasting the industry's demise in the United States with its modest successes in Western Europe, demonstrating how variations in important governmental and private institutions affected the general health of the industry in France, Sweden, and West Germany. A theoretically informed analysis free of the usual polemics about nuclear power, Collapse of an Industry merits the close attention of anyone concerned with the future of the commercial nuclear power industry.

Policy Styles in Western Europe (Routledge Revivals)
Policy Styles in Western Europe (Routledge Revivals)

Author: Jeremy Richardson

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-04-17

Total Pages: 356

ISBN-13: 1136176799

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First published in 1982, Policy Styles in Western Europe considers the growth of the modern state in the 1980s and examines the implications of this for the making and implementation of public policy decisions. It argues that the business of government was simply easier in the 1970s and that the growth of the modern state has meant an expansion of public policies, with the state widening in areas of societal activity. This book looks at the similarities and differences that exist among the countries of Western Europe. Whilst it is increasingly clear that most policy problems arise from areas of concern common to all Western democracies, for example, unemployment, inflation and crime, this book focuses on whether or not individual countries exhibit characteristic policy styles in response to them. In this volume, the country-studies consider the main characteristics of the individual policy processes in relation to a simple typology of political styles. Each author considers a series of central questions: the relationship between the government and other actors in the policy process; the degree to which policy-making has become sectorised and segmented; and the broad approach to problem solving in terms of anticipatory or reactive styles.