CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020
| Author | Tiik, Johanna Maarja |
|---|---|
| Title | Deepening Energy Policy Integration in the European Union: Could Politicization of Climate Change Be the Key? |
| Summary | Climate change has gained a lot of attention among the European Union (EU) public in the last years, with scientists as well as climate strikers stressing the need for action. However, the effects of that phenomenon around the issue of climate change among the public on the EU energy policy remain under-researched. In order to establish the link between the two, the thesis applies the neofunctionalist EU integration framework, which claims that politicization of an issue leads to further policy integration of that topic. Previous research has noted that politicization of climate change has been underway in individual countries, however, the current thesis establishes, based on opinion polls and European Parliament election results, that this process has also occurred in the EU as all three criteria of politicization (increase in the salience, polarization of opinion and mobilization of public opinion) have increased over the last few years. Regarding energy policy, the thesis demonstrates that the deepening of energy policy integration has increased significantly, especially in the form of bottom-up pressure, thereby ’bringing politics’ into energy policy. Based on the neofunctionalist conceptual frame, the thesis concludes that the increased politicization of climate change among the public has fueled energy policy integration in the EU, becoming the main driver behind it and replacing thus the earlier driver of the Energy Union – energy security. More broadly, the thesis sets an example of a way in which public perceptions are capable of shaping or even driving policy issue integration in the EU. |
| Supervisor | Izsak, Daniel |
| Department | International Relations MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2020/tiik_johanna-maarja.pdf |
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