ABSTRACT
Germany has major, yet regionally disparate, deposits of shale gas that could be extracted with the help of unconventional fracking. The process of regulating shale gas fracking in Germany started in 2011 with weak regulation in place and an only slightly stricter regulation proposed in 2013 (but not adopted). Since the regulatory package adopted in summer 2016 came into force in early 2017, commercial shale gas fracking has been prohibited in Germany. From a theoretical point of view, this case demonstrates that business interests cannot always influence political decisions and party politicians do not always behave as expected. Rather, an analytical framework looking at the interaction of problem structure, institutions and actors, proves useful for explaining such contingent results of political processes.
