| dc.description.abstract | Within Europe, Germany is clearly leading with regard to new renewable energy sources,
while the Netherlands is lagging behind. This difference is often attributed to the fact
that the German government has been much more effective in implementing smart
policies that support the production of renewable energies. This thesis asks the question
of why this policy developed in Germany and not in The Netherlands, and takes both a
structure and an agency approach in an attempt to answer this.
The structural analysis clearly shows that, although not all hypotheses were
confirmed, the structure of the policy process matters, as some structural characteristics of
the policy networks showed a clear relation to policy outcome. The Agency analysis
showed that German success can be attributed to an unusual coalition of niche players
that obtained transformative power and took over the policy process, while in the
Netherlands the dominance of regime players over policy making was retained. Above
all, this research displayed a clear duality between agency and structure, as they codetermine
each other as a process of change over time.
This provides some modes theoretical insights into how policy chance could be
better understood. Moreover, this understanding can be translated to some concrete
recommendation to how Dutch niche players could proceed in their attempts to fasten
the transition towards renewable energy. | |
