Short Circuiting Policy: Interest Groups and the Battle Over Clean Energy and Climate Policy in the American States (Studies in Postwar American Political Development) *(PDF)
In 1999, Texas passed a landmark clean energy law, beginning a groundswell of new policies that promised to make the US a world leader in renewable energy. As Leah Stokes shows in Short Circuiting Policy, however, that policy did not lead to momentum in Texas, which failed to implement its solar laws or clean up its electricity system. Examining clean energy laws in Texas, Kansas, Arizona, and Ohio over a thirty-year time frame, Stokes argues that organized combat between advocate and opponent interest groups is central to explaining why states are not on track to address the climate crisis. She tells the political history of our energy institutions, explaining how fossil fuel companies and electric utilities have promoted climate denial and delay. Stokes further explains the limits of policy feedback theory, showing the ways that interest groups drive retrenchment through lobbying, public opinion, political parties and the courts. More than a history of renewable energy policy in modern America, Short Circuiting Policy offers a bold new argument about how the policy process works, and why seeming victories can turn into losses when the opposition has enough resources to roll back laws. Read more
Download Now
Why Must Read Short Circuiting Policy: Interest Groups and the Battle Over Clean Energy and Climate Policy in the American States (Studies in Postwar American Political Development)?
This book is incredibly well-researched, clear, and readable. Stokes details the successes, challenges, and failures of clean energy advocates to enact policies supporting renewable energy. She explains how citizens, political parties, and special interest groups all interact to make policy. One key theme of this book is the "fog of enactment", the fact that policy makers don't know the full impacts of their policy until after it is enacted. Another is "retrenchment", the scaling back of clean energy policies in response to clean energy opponents such as utilities and fossil fuel companies. Stokes also explains "policy feedback", the process by which those benefiting from a policy become advocates for keeping or strengthening that policy. Throughout the book, there are stories of state policies that saw all three of these effects. This book provides a good balance between documenting what is wrong with our system and explaining what we can do to change things. This book was thoroughly researched over the course of several years and proofread by dozens of academics and professionals. Every few sentences has a footnote with a source. Where Stokes injects her own opinions, she makes a clear distinction between her opinions and facts. Despite being dense with research, the book is also very engaging and readable; it reads like a novel rather than a textbook. For anyone who wants to know how energy policy works and how to change it, I highly recommend this book.
Read Now