Power failures: metagoverning a revival of nuclear power in Britain

The British Government is attempting, through metagovernance, to encourage a transition to a low carbon electricity generation industry by promoting a revival of nuclear power. This paper considers the barriers that the British Government might encounter by analysing its metagovernance efforts within the context of a dynamic, co-evolving socio-technical regime. It is shown that the British Government's attempts to metagovern a transition to nuclear power are likely to fail. This is because the British Government has failed to secure the support of a number of important stakeholders, is pursuing an unrealistic policy, is subject to critical dependencies, and cannot easily exercise authority over a complex network. The paper concludes by arguing that these failures are due to the British Government's inability to understand the process by which transitions occur.