The German Energy transition at the local level - A Discourse Network Analysis for identifying fostering and hindering discourse patterns and network structures

Abstract

The German Energiewende is an enormous and far-reaching project, consisting of a huge variety of goals that aim in transiting Germany to a reduced and greener energy consumption. While the far-reaching goals are set by the federal government, achieving the goals is crucially dependent on their implementation at the local level. Empirically a huge variation in the implementation of this goals at the local level can be observed. This variation can only partly be explained by independent preconditions of the state (such as average income, size or land-use). This paper studies more subtle varying factors, that might have an influence on the successful implementation of renewable energies. Based on the agenda setting approach and the Advocacy Coalition Framework, this paper analyzes the relation between discourses, local policy network structures and the success of a region in implementing renewable energies. Therefor a Discourse Network Analysis (DNA) is conducted which identities differences in discourse contents and discourse network structures in four counties (two successful and two unsuccessful). Results support the hypotheses that the discourse content is strongly dependent on whether a county is rural or urban. Furthermore results show that the discourse network structures of successful counties tend to become more open and consensual over time, while in unsuccessful counties the discourse network structures become more clustered. This is a strong indicator for the connection between discourses, their network structures and the success of the successful implementation of the energy transition.