Energy regimes and the development of the European Community

Miscellaneous · Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1993

OSTI ID:7304118

Hadjilambrinos, C J

Energy policy has historically played an important role in the development of the European Community (EC). This study examines the reasons for the choice of coal and atomic energy as regimes of integration, analyzes their impact on the institutions and political traditions of the EC, and evaluates their consistency with the principles of democratic governance. Functionalist theory has provided the idealogical foundations for the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Atomic Energy Community. Functionalist theorists advocate technocracy as the means for overcoming the conflicts inherent in traditional political processes. Coal and atomic energy were chosen as regimes of integration because of their technocratic character and the importance attached to them as the dominant energy source of the time and the perceived source of energy abundance in the near future. Energy regimes could not be removed from the political context of national governance. Hard energy regimes, which include coal and atomic energy, are technocratic policies which exclude ordinary citizens from the exercise of power and intensify international conflict. An institutional analysis of the French and Danish electricity regimes demonstrates that their political characteristics are incompatible with the principles of democratic governance. It is also demonstrated that the characteristics of soft energy regimes (e.g., conservation and renewables) are compatible with these principles and are based on cooperation. An analysis of the EC's energy policy demonstrates that a soft energy path represents a concept of integration which distributes decision-making power among various levels of governance. A hard energy path would concentrate power in the hands of a technocratic elite. The pursuit of a soft energy path by the EC would enhance significantly the opportunities for political integration.

• Research Organization: Delaware Univ., Newark, DE (United States)
• OSTI ID: 7304118
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Thesis (Ph.D.)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
COAL
POLITICAL ASPECTS
EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
ENERGY POLICY
NUCLEAR ENERGY
NATIONALIZATION
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
ENERGY
ENERGY SOURCES
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GOVERNMENT POLICIES
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
MATERIALS
290200* - Energy Planning & Policy- Economics & Sociology
294001 - Energy Planning & Policy- Coal
290600 - Energy Planning & Policy- Nuclear Energy