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Changing Regulation and Governance of Finnish Energy Policy Making: New Rules but Old Elites?

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  • Ilkka Ruostetsaari

Abstract

Energy policy making is commonly seen as a sector dominated more by experts and technocrats than politicians. Regulation of Finnish energy policy, which was traditionally characterized by state‐centeredness and detailed governmental control, was step by step annulled in the mid‐1980s on, and a deregulation policy was introduced. The return of regulation can be timed to in the beginning of the twenty‐first century, being the result of the global debate and measures dealing with climate change. The purpose of this study was to assess the extent to which the changes of operational environment have transformed the power structure of Finnish energy policy making and whether the key actors constitute a coherent energy elite in terms of attitudinal unanimity and interaction networks. Methodologically the study was based on three sets of elite interview data collected in 1987, 1997, and 2009 and a postal survey conducted among the citizenry in 2007. The major finding was that despite fundamental changes in the operational environment the power structure of the energy sector policy making has been fairly stable from 1987 to 2009 and the old cohesive energy elite is still in power.

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  • Ilkka Ruostetsaari, 2010. "Changing Regulation and Governance of Finnish Energy Policy Making: New Rules but Old Elites?," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 27(3), pages 273-297, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:revpol:v:27:y:2010:i:3:p:273-297
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1541-1338.2010.00442.x
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    Cited by:

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    4. Lempinen, Hanna, 2019. "“Barely surviving on a pile of gold”: Arguing for the case of peat energy in 2010s Finland," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 1-7.
    5. Kivimaa, Paula, 2014. "Government-affiliated intermediary organisations as actors in system-level transitions," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(8), pages 1370-1380.
    6. Liisa Häikiö, 2014. "Institutionalization of Sustainable Development in Decision-Making and Everyday Life Practices: A Critical View on the Finnish Case," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(9), pages 1-16, August.
    7. Mari Makkonen, Mats Nilsson and Satu Viljainen, 2015. "All quiet on the western front? Transmission capacity development in the Nordic electricity market," Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2).
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