Introduction

This introductory chapter describes the main challenges in analyzing political economy issues and approaches proposed in the academic literature. It then provides an overview of the AOC (“Actors, Objectives, Context”) political economy framework, which we use to organize the country case studies assembled in this book. Its actor-centered perspective is built on the assumption that those policies are implemented that best meet the objectives of actors with the greatest influence on policy decisions. Applying the framework in practice includes four basic steps: (i) identifying the societal and political actors most relevant for the formulation, implementation and enforcement of energy and climate policies; (ii) spelling out these actors’ underlying objectives; (iii) assessing the economic, institutional, discursive and environmental context, which determines how certain objectives matter for certain societal actors and (iv) analyzing the dynamic interactions among these factors leading to aggregate policy outcomes. Context factors determine how societal actors influence political actors engaged in formal public policy formulation, implementation and enforcement, and how the dynamic interplay of different political actors’ interests results in energy and climate policy outcomes.