Original scientific paper
Distributional Conflicts as Constraints of the Energy Policy: Experiences of United States and Federal Republic of Germany
Herald Müller
; Hessishe Stiftung für Friedens- und Konfliktforschung, Frankfurt AM
Abstract
As opposed to the notion of energy policy as a functional-technical issue, and — on the other hand — as a struggle between materialistic and post-materialistic value patterns in the industrial and post-industrial society, the article is arguing the following hypotheses: (1) distributional conflicts represent the roots of the contemporary energy problems, (2) the values involved, even in the field of environmental protection, are of a materialistic nature, (3) the differences in energy policies of the United States and Western Germany can be explained by different distributional patterns, having as their core divergent values stemming from differences between industrial and demographic structures and geological resources, (4) the energy policy, especially the choice of the path of flexible »soft-energy «, can be successfully implemented by the emergence of a »winning coalition« which takes sufficient account of the distributional issues involved.
Switches toward flexible energy policies are, according to the author, tied to activities of movements for environmental protection and to programs of new energy projects on the local level and on the global societal level. In such a manner, it is concluded, the »energy syndrome« and redistributional conflicts are not necessarily causes of a profound political and societal disorganization.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
155869
URI
Publication date:
31.12.1982.
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