The Politics of Nuclear Energy in Western Europe

Abstract

This volume investigates nuclear energy policies in Western Europe over the entire post-war period, giving special attention to the two most recent decades. It focuses on the interplay between voters’ attitudes, anti-nuclear movements, party competition, and coalition formation. Based on a mixed-methods approach using structured case studies, qualitative comparison, and quantitative analyses, it shows that the nature of party competition under given institutional contexts is a key driver for policy change. Part I introduces the practical and theoretical relevance of the topic. It outlines the reasoning of the major scientific contribution with regard to nuclear energy policies, and offers a theoretical alternative to the previous literature that has been predominantly movements-oriented. It also formulates a set of specific hypotheses on policy change and stability. 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 country case studies applying the outlined analytical perspective. Part III consists of an evaluation of the hypotheses, qualitative comparison of sixteen Western European cases (drawing, in addition to the country case studies on short narratives of the remaining countries) and of a quantitative assessment of the multivariate impact of factors for policy change.