Crisis and Essence of Choice: Explaining Post‐Fukushima Nuclear Energy Policy Making

Abstract

After the Fukushima nuclear plant explosion in March, 2011, countless antinuclear protests were seen on street in many countries. Yet some governments maintained their original pro‐nuclear position while others announced sudden energy policy change. What accounts for this substantial variation? This research uses the synthesis of Punctuated Equilibrium Theory and Positive Political Theory to explain the crossnational variation. Three variables are identified: (i) election, (ii) past experience, and (iii) institutional setting to further our understanding on how attention of policy makers is allocated differently and thus produce variety of policy reactions in post‐crisis governance across nations. Six European country cases of different post‐crisis energy policy responses are chosen to cross‐examine these variables' explanatory power: Germany, France, Spain, Sweden, Italy, and Switzerland. The methods and findings of this study urge researchers to go beyond treating crisis as focusing event in policy change and look into the macropolitical conditions that promote or undermine the driving energy behind policy change dynamics.