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Fragmentation in Global Energy Governance: Explaining the Creation of IRENA

Author

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  • Thijs Van de Graaf

    (Thijs Van de Graaf is a post-doctoral researcher at the Ghent Institute for International Studies, Ghent University, Belgium.)

Abstract

In 2009, a group of member countries of the International Energy Agency (IEA) spearheaded the creation of a new international organization, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), despite the fact that the IEA had been working on renewables for decades. Why would states create an overlapping organization, thus advancing the overall degree of fragmentation? Drawing on the work of Mansfield and Moravcsik, this article provides an explanation based on domestic preferences and institutional capture. Viewed thus, IRENA was part of an institutional hedging strategy instigated by domestic actors in Germany and allied states to counter the IEA's alleged normative bias toward the fossil and nuclear energy industries with a wider set of alternative energy options. The article suggests that, depending on the domestic preferences of a set of states capable to innovate, the transaction costs associated with institutional reform may surmount those of institutional creation. © 2013 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Suggested Citation

  • Thijs Van de Graaf, 2013. "Fragmentation in Global Energy Governance: Explaining the Creation of IRENA," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 13(3), pages 14-33, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:glenvp:v:13:y:2013:i:3:p:14-33
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Escribano, Gonzalo, 2014. "Fragmentación y cooperación en la gobernanza energética global/Fragmentation and Cooperation in Global Energy Governance," Estudios de Economia Aplicada, Estudios de Economia Aplicada, vol. 32, pages 1021-1042, Septiembr.
    2. Viktor Koval & Oksana Borodina & Iryna Lomachynska & Piotr Olczak & Anzor Mumladze & Dominika Matuszewska, 2022. "Model Analysis of Eco-Innovation for National Decarbonisation Transition in Integrated European Energy System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-19, May.
    3. Jonas Meckling, 2019. "Governing renewables: Policy feedback in a global energy transition," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 37(2), pages 317-338, March.
    4. Benjamin Faude & Michal Parizek, 2021. "Contested multilateralism as credible signaling: how strategic inconsistency can induce cooperation among states," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 843-870, October.
    5. Julia Morse & Robert Keohane, 2014. "Contested multilateralism," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 9(4), pages 385-412, December.
    6. Indra Overland & Gunilla Reischl, 2018. "A place in the Sun? IRENA’s position in the global energy governance landscape," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 335-350, June.
    7. Thomas Gehring & Benjamin Faude, 2014. "A theory of emerging order within institutional complexes: How competition among regulatory international institutions leads to institutional adaptation and division of labor," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 9(4), pages 471-498, December.
    8. Heubaum, Harald & Biermann, Frank, 2015. "Integrating global energy and climate governance: The changing role of the International Energy Agency," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 229-239.
    9. Scholten, Daniel & Bosman, Rick, 2016. "The geopolitics of renewables; exploring the political implications of renewable energy systems," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 273-283.
    10. Robert Falkner, 2015. "A minilateral solution for global climate change? On bargaining efficiency, club benefits and international legitimacy," GRI Working Papers 197, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
    11. Sander, Michael, 2013. "Conceptual proposals for measuring the impact of international regimes on energy security," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 449-457.
    12. Singer, Benjamin & Giessen, Lukas, 2017. "Towards a donut regime? Domestic actors, climatization, and the hollowing-out of the international forests regime in the Anthropocene," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 69-79.
    13. Downie, Christian, 2020. "Strategies for Survival: The International Energy Agency's response to a new world," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    14. Joanna I. Lewis, 2014. "The Rise of Renewable Energy Protectionism: Emerging Trade Conflicts and Implications for Low Carbon Development," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 14(4), pages 10-35, November.
    15. Johannes Urpelainen & Thijs Van de Graaf, 2015. "The International Renewable Energy Agency: a success story in institutional innovation?," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 159-177, May.
    16. Stritzke, Susann & Trotter, Philipp A. & Twesigye, Peter, 2021. "Towards responsive energy governance: Lessons from a holistic analysis of energy access in Uganda and Zambia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 148(PA).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    global energy governance; International Energy Agency; International Renewable Energy Agency;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q40 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - General
    • Q48 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Government Policy

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