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I assess the contribution of policy learning to changes in renewable energy support policies in the European Union (EU), focusing on the evolution of the ‘Feed-in Tariff’ in Germany and the United Kingdom, considering both ‘endogenous’ (responses to the effects of existing policy within the country) and ‘exogenous’ (responses based on external experience of the policy) learning in shaping the design and operation of the mechanism as policy shifted from an expansionary to a retrenchment phase. I evaluate the analytical value of a policy learning approach compared with other explanations for such policy changes, particularly those which draw upon more conventional political drivers such as political parties, interest groups and institutional conditions at the domestic and EU levels. While there are signs in both cases that policy learning has informed changes in the policy in certain respects, the principal drivers of, and constraints upon, change have been political.

The interplay between regulation and innovation is examined through the case of the development of shale gas, by comparing the regulatory context that facilitated the diffusion of shale gas techniques (in the United States) with the responses to its potential development in different European settings (the national cases of Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Poland and the EU institutions). The US regime has favoured its development, transforming the energy economy but raising concerns about environmental impacts. In Europe, different economic and political contexts have resulted in divergent responses amongst the countries examined, making an effective EU response difficult to achieve.

Recent discussions on the development of European Union (EU) energy policy have become dominated by a discourse of insecurity relating to the questions of energy dependence and relations with energy suppliers, echoing the debate during the energy crises of the 1970s. This article compares the two periods, analysing the way in which the EU (and the European Community in the 1970s) reacted to disruptions to energy supply. The article critically applies the concept of securitization, arguing that while the salience of energy increased in both periods, the Europeans neither faced an “existential threat” nor adopted “extraordinary measures” in responding to the crises.

The changes in the international telecommunications market are rapidly outgrowing the existing structure of regulation. Moreover the trends in the sector indicate that if the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) rule is to be viable some form of international competition policy is needed. This must tackle the difficult problems of market access, joint ventures and anticompetitive behaviour and most importantly prevent the different approaches to these problems leading to trade frictions, especially in the USA. Such rules have proved difficult, but not necessarily impossible, to develop as the stalled talks within the World Trade Organisation (WTO) have shown. The paper considers the possible relevance of developments within EU telecommunications regulation where a competition policy-led regime is emerging.

This article explains why regulation has come to the fore as an instrument in contemporary policy-making in many European states, as well as within the European Union (EU). On the basis of case study material, it considers whether some of the traditional problems associated with regulation, specifically those of regulatory capture and of implementation gaps, have arisen in the case of EU regulation. Drawing on the experience of the Eftan states and the central and east European countries, the article also examines a new challenge associated with the EU itself, that of regulatory alignment, the process by which prospective member states adapt to both the form and the content of European rule-making.

This chapter examines the way in which the British government has shifted its stance on the details and scope of a common energy policy in the European Union (EU). That shift has been highly significant: more or less from the moment of membership, British politicians and officials were wary of transferring authority over energy matters to the European level. A combination of domestic political divisions over its participation in the European Community and the desire to retain control over the resources of the North Sea meant that British governments were quite hostile to the development of a more coor-dinated European approach to energy matters. This reluctance to engage persisted over the subsequent decades with regard to most aspects of energy policy, the principal exception being in the area of market liberalization (a policy innovation where the United Kingdom [UK] was an early adopter). In an echo of the UK’s traditional “economistic” motivation for participating in European integration, Conservative—and later Labour—governments were forceful sup-porters of the European Commission proposals to increase competition in the energy sector (though other Member States were, at least initially less enthused).

This article examines the prospects for the European electricity and telecommunications utilities in the EC policy framework. It places EC developments in the broader context of institutional and technological change and assesses the consequences of these changes for consumers and suppliers as well as the utilities themselves. It considers the extent to which the historically national framework for these utilities may be superseded by an EC regime, and explores some of the tensions between integration and competition.

Over 20 years ago UN Commission on Environment and Development called on governments around the world to make sustainable development their first priority. The ‘Brundtland Report’ provided a definition still regularly quoted in policy documents committing governments to the aim. Sustainable development is: [D]evelopment that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It contains within it two concepts: the concept of ‘needs’, in particular the essential needs of the world’s poor, to which overriding priority should be given; and the idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organisation on the environment’s ability to meet present and future needs. (WCED, 1987: 43) The opening sentence above has become very familiar, but the two clarifying points that follow are rarely included. Sustainable development is now interpreted in diverse ways in various national and international contexts, often such that the detail presents little challenge to the status quo. For example, in the UK it has been interpreted as a domestic ‘quality of life’ agenda, or as a matter of ‘balancing’ economic, social and environmental protection goals in policymaking.

Rapidly cutting domestic GHG emissions is the most pressing energy policy challenge in industrialised countries, but it is global emissions, including those from developing countries, that will determine the extent of future climate change. Agreement on global action to cut emissions has so far been difficult to achieve, largely because of US intransigence at Federal level, but also because developing country governments are not willing to see their growth constrained so as to solve a problem caused by the rich world. Rich countries must therefore first demonstrate that high incomes, low emissions and energy security are simultaneously achievable goals. Successful technical and social innovations could then be selected and adapted to local circumstances in the developing world. Significant opportunities can also be expected for emerging economies to export low carbon technologies in to OECD markets.

The recent revival of interest in energy policy is driven by a combination of concerns about the security of future sources of energy supply and also about the consequences of using those resources, particularly their contribution to climate change. Yet the ability of energy policy makers to address these problems faces major challenges. This is partly because the energy economy is the aggregate outcome of the choices of millions of energy consumers, whether individual citizens or firms, and also because many aspects of that energy economy are outside national control. If anything, it is national energy policies that have been subject, in different ways and to differing extents, to international constraints and pressures.

Around the world energy policy is becoming more politically heated. An interrelated set of factors explains this: new scientific findings about climate change and its likely consequences; rising energy prices; controversy about nuclear ambitions; fears about the security of fossil fuel supplies relating to short-term geopolitical instabilities; rapid demand growth in countries such as China and India; the prospect of declining total world oil production, and its consequences for fossil fuel prices and energy security in coming decades; and international tensions around all of these issues.

Avoiding dangerous climate change is the defining challenge for humanity in the twenty-first century. Since the energy system is both the primary cause of climate change and the primary means of mitigation, the future evolution of energy policy is of critical importance. But energy policy is undergoing significant change for other reasons, including unstable and substantially higher oil and gas prices, conflict and instability in key producing regions such as the Middle East, fears of the economic consequences of declining world oil production and a rising perception of energy insecurity, especially within industrialised countries. While there are precedents for managing these developments, effective response to them all while at the same time radically reducing carbon emissions requires a major rethink of conventional assumptions and practices.

This introduction to a series of articles on utility procurement practices outlines the basic rationale for procurement as a mechanism of policy and some of the criticisms of that approach. The paper also provides some historical background to the debate on procurement liberalization, reviewing the way in which reform has been addressed in both national and international settings (particularly the role of the European Community).

The heavy electrical industry is undergoing an unprecedented period of change. The world market for power station equipment is shifting from the protected home markets of the largest developed countries to the developing world where competition is often more open. Within the traditional markets, pressures such as structural change in the electricity supply industry and the impact of trade liberalization threaten to increase competitive pressures on suppliers. The heavy electrical industry has responded to these and other changes by embarking on a restructuring which may lead to the concentration of the world's industry into three or four conglomerates

This paper analyses the origins of, and the prospects for, Orimulsion, a new power station and industrial fuel developed by Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA), based on their massive reserves of extra heavy crude oil. After examining the importance of oil for the Venezuelan economy, the paper discusses the attempts by PDVSA to exploit these resources and the problems they have encountered. The paper then charts how Orimulsion was developed and assesses the potential for its use. In conclusion the paper considers the new fuel in the context of PDVSA's wider strategy of diversification.

1. Introduction - Francis McGowan, Slavo Radosevic and Nick von Tunzelmann 2. Industry Integration in the pan-European Economy: a review ot theoretical and empirical issues - Slavo Radosevic and Francis McGowan 3. Network Alignment in the Catching-up Economies of Europe - Nick von Tunzelmann 4. State Strategy and Regional Integration - the EU and Enlargement - Francis McGowan 5. Industrial Networks in Central and Eastern Europe at the Firm Level: summary and overview of ten case studies - Slavo Radosevic and Deniz Eylem Yoruk 6. Network Realignment in the CEE Food-processing Industry - Nick von Tunzelmann and Deniz Eylem Yoruk 7. Patterns of Industrial Upgrading in the Clothing Industry in Poland and Romania - Deniz Eylem Yoruk 8. The Electronics Industry in Central and Eastern Europe: an emerging production location in the alignment of networks persective - Slavo Radosevic 9. Policy and Production Integration in the Central European Electricity Industry - Francis McGowan 10. Foreign Direct Investment and Indigenous Industry in Ireland: a review of the evidence - T.P. O'Connor 11. Integration of Slovenai into EU and Global Industrial Networks - Matija Rojec and Andreja Jaklic 12. FDI and Industrial Networks in Hungary - Judit Hamar 13. Industrialization and Internationalization in the Spanish Economy - Jose Molero 14. Markets and Networks in Romania - sytematic unrest or life after disorganization? - Geomina Turlea and Cezar Mereuta 15. The Integration of Poland into EU and Global Industrial Networks: evidence and the main challenges - Stefan Dunin-Wasowicz, Michal Gorzynski and Richard Woodward 16. Network Alignment and pan-European Industry Networks: conclusions, contributions and policy implications - Francis McGowan, Slavo Radosevic and Nick von Tunzelmann

Energy policy in the UK has undergone some dramatic changes over the last fifteen years. More so than any other European country, the government has adopted the rhetoric of promoting market forces over state intervention in the energy sector and has followed this up in policy terms with significant initiatives in the fields of privatisation and liberalisation. The changes have been such as to lead some to allege that the UK no longer has an “energy policy” and that short-termist myopia has replaced the longer term strategic vision which characterised UK energy policy in the past (and which arguably persists in other countries). However, while the changes of the last decade and a half have been substantial, they should not be regarded as demonstrating an unequivocal commitment to the market or as marking a disengagement from political intervention and interference. While the government gives much greater emphasis to considerations of efficiency - as a result of its ideological preoccupation with the market - there is some evidence that expediency or pragmatism has often prevailed in the shaping of policies. If policy is myopic it stems as much from short term political calculations as from the market-place.

Over the course of the development of the European Union (EU), 1 there have been many attempts to formulate a common energy policy but with only limited success. The main reason for its failure has been the reluctance of member states to pool sovereignty in this highly sensitive policy area. Yet one might expect that a combination of factors would pull member states’ energy policies in the same direction: the increasingly integrated European economy, the common challenges of the environment and international competition, even the increased activism of the Commission in areas which impinge upon the energy sector should be bringing about a convergence of national energy policies, creating the basis for a truly European energy policy. That this book focuses upon national energy policies might suggest that such convergence is not yet a reality. However, it is clear that the factors noted above have had an effect upon member states and that arguably that impact is becoming more significant. In this introductory chapter we summarise some of the developments at work in the countries examined in the book - France, Germany, Italy and the UK - as well as elsewhere in the EU, assessing the current balance between diversity and convergence. We review the development of European energy policy and consider its significance for national energy policies.

1. Energy Policy in the EU - Diversity or Convergence?.- 2. French Energy Policy - the Effectiveness and Limitations of Colbertism.- 3. German Energy Policy in Transition.- 4. Italian Energy Policy: From Planning to an (Imperfect) Market.- 5. Ideology and Expediency in British Energy Policy.- 6. The Future of EU Energy Policy.

Matthews Mark, Mcgowan Francis. Reconciling diversity and scale : some questions of method in the assessment of the costs and benefits of European intégration. In: Revue d'économie industrielle, vol. 59, 1er trimestre 1992. Diversité technologique et cohérence en Europe. pp. 222-234.

This article explores how political parties, trade unions, consumer bodies and business organisations have responded to the liberalisation of public services across a number of European states. It does so on the basis of research conducted as part of a Framework Five Project - BASIC - which examined the reform of public services at both the national and EU level. The paper concludes that there have been some elements of a shift in the consensus regarding the way in which such services should be organised but that concerns over the effects of liberalisation still existed amongst many groups.

This paper examines the prospects for European energy policy in the light of the European Commission's proposals for an internal energy market. It reviews the history of attempts to create a common energy policy, concentrating on the 1980s. It considers whether or not there is a conflict between the traditional objectives of energy policy — limiting vulnerability to energy shocks — and the goals of the internal energy market — which would open the sector to market forces — by illustrating how the two agendas for energy policy address specific energy issues.

This article considers how far the performance of the UK electricity supply industry (ESI) has been affected by public ownership. It notes the difficulties for the ESI of defining performance and making comparisons, and focuses on specific areas where the ESI has been at fault (plant choice, construction times, etc). It argues that these shortcomings stem from the particular nature of the relationship between government and ESI in the UK not from public ownership per se and cautions against comparing an existing faulty structure with an idealised but untested system.

After outlining the basic principles of superconductivity and the history of its development, this paper describes some of the potential applications of the technology, particularly for the electricity supply industry. It charts the development of the use of superconductors in energy research from the mid-1960s on, reviewing the projects developed over that period, and considers why the impetus behind such projects dissipated in the 1980s. The events of the last 18 months — since the discovery of high temperature superconducting materials — and the subsequent explosion of interest in the new materials are then examined. Of particular interest here is the contrast between the emergence of a powerful coalition of government, industry and science in a number of countries anxious to obtain maximum advantage from the technology and the reaction of the energy research community. The paper concludes by identifying the problems of the new materials and of superconductivity itself for the ESI, suggesting how they might interact in the future, and considers how these developments illustrate the relationship between the innovation process and technology choice in the energy sector.