State capitalism and energy democracy.

• Our paper highlights how and why state capitalism impacts energy democracy and renewable energy deployment. • The timing of the paper is critical because state capitalism is attracting more power and attention around the world. • We conclude that the values of state capitalism contradict with the necessary conditions of creating energy democracy. • We expect a deterioration or slowness in energy democracy diffusion and renewal energy deployment. The current paper highlights the interconnection between the state capitalist system and the concept of energy democracy. Both terms have attracted the attention of scholars because of significant economic, environmental, and political events. Our paper reviews the literature to show that state capitalism and energy democracy cannot exist together because the values of state capitalism contradict the necessary conditions to generate energy democracy. Moreover, globally, Western capitalist countries are failing in terms of their economies and political performance and yet, at the same time, economic performance is shifting toward state capitalism with less importance given to democratic actions. Therefore, we expect a deterioration or slowness in energy democracy diffusion and renewable energy deployment. For state capitalism to generate geographical representation, it needs to use regulations and spread renewable energy technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]