Energy Policy Dynamics in the European Parliament and in the Lithuanian Seimas
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Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports 2021 Energy Policy Dynamics in the European Parliament and in the Lithuanian Seimas Vaida Lilionyte Manthos West Virginia University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd Part of the Other Political Science Commons Recommended Citation Manthos, Vaida Lilionyte, "Energy Policy Dynamics in the European Parliament and in the Lithuanian Seimas" (2021). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 8290. https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/8290 This Dissertation is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by the The Research Repository @ WVU with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Dissertation in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you must obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This Dissertation has been accepted for inclusion in WVU Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports collection by an authorized administrator of The Research Repository @ WVU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Energy Policy Dynamics in the European Parliament and in the Lithuanian Seimas Vaida Lilionyte Manthos Dissertation submitted to the Eberly College of Arts and Science at West Virginia University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science John Kilwein, Ph.D., Chair Shauna Fisher, Ph.D. Erik S. Herron, Ph.D. Daniel Renfrew, Ph.D. Department of Political Science Morgantown, West Virginia 2021 Keywords: Energy Policy, Common Energy Policy, Punctuated Equilibrium Theory, European Union, European Parliament, Nuclear Power, Seimas Copyright 2021 Vaida Lilionyte Manthos ABSTRACT “Energy Policy Dynamics in the European Parliament and in the Lithuanian Seimas” Vaida Lilionyte Manthos The purpose of this study is to apply punctuated equilibrium theory to better understand the development of energy policies in the European Parliament and in the Lithuanian Parliament – Seimas. In the first empirical chapter I analyze written questions that members of the European Parliament submitted to the EU Commission to study whether members of the European Parliament respond to punctuating events such as the Fukushima nuclear accident. I also study party groupings in the European Parliament to evaluate how punctuating events alter the policy behavior and priorities of these party groupings. In the second empirical chapter I analyze whether political parties in Lithuanian Seimas also respond to the same punctuating events. iii Acknowledgements I am very grateful to all of my family, friends, and colleagues. Thank you very much for your patience and support. I am especially thankful to my husband David for his support and sacrifices. Thank you very much to my committee: Dr. Shauna Fisher, Dr. Erik Herron, Dr. John Kilwein, and Dr. Daniel Renfrew. Thank you to the LeeAnn Greathouse and Ronny Thompson, and to all the WVU staff, especially librarians who provided me with books and other materials during the pandemic. I am especially thankful to my adviser Dr. Kilwein. Thank you so much for your guidance, patience, assistance, and availability. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 1 I. AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE THEORIES .................................................. 7 II. PUNCTUATED EQUILIBRIUM THEORY (PET) AND PET’S APPLICATIONS IN THE U.S ...................................................................................... 12 III. PET APPLICATIONS OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES ............................... 17 IV. CRITICISM OF PET ............................................................................................... 24 V. CHAPTER OUTLINE ............................................................................................... 25 CHAPTER 2. ENERGY POLICY DEVELOPMENT IN THE EUROPEAN UNION AND LITHUANIA ............................................................................................................................... 28 I. INTRODUCTION: COMMON ENERGY POLICY – A CONSISTENT BUT UNREALIZED OBJECTIVE THROUGHOUT THE FORMATION OF THE EU 28 II. COAL AND STEEL: FORGING A NEW UNION THROUGH ECONOMIC COOPERATION (1951) ................................................................................................. 29 A. WESTERN EXPANSION - FIRST ENLARGEMENT (1973) ........................................... 37 B. SOUTHERN EXPANSION & STRUCTURAL CHANGES - SECOND AND THIRD ENLARGEMENTS (1981, 1986) ................................................................................. 40 C. NORTHERN GROWTH - FOURTH ENLARGEMENT (1995) ....................................... 44 D. FROM ONE UNION TO ANOTHER - FIFTH AND SIXTH ENLARGEMENTS (2004) ....... 45 III. HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF LITHUANIA ................................................................... 47 v IV. ANALYSIS – EVOLUTION OF THE EU ENERGY POLICY RELATIVE TO NEW MEMBER STATES ............................................................................................. 53 V. CONCLUSION........................................................................................................... 58 CHAPTER 3. ENERGY POLICY DYNAMICS IN THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ... 59 I. APPLICATION OF PET OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES ........................ 60 II. EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ................................................................................... 61 III. EUROPEAN PARLIAMENTARY POLITICAL GROUPINGS ........................ 63 IV. REVIEWING WRITTEN QUESTIONS TO THE EU PARLIAMENT ............ 70 V. METHODS ................................................................................................................. 74 VI. CASES STUDIES ..................................................................................................... 77 A. NUCLEAR ENERGY ................................................................................................. 77 B. HYDRAULIC FRACTURING ...................................................................................... 84 C. COAL ENERGY ....................................................................................................... 89 D. WIND ENERGY ....................................................................................................... 97 E. SOLAR ENERGY .................................................................................................... 101 VII. CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................... 105 CHAPTER 4. ENERGY POLICY IN THE LITHUANIAN SEIMAS ................................ 108 I. LITHUANIA’S ENERGY POLICY ........................................................................ 111 II. INTRODUCTION TO LITHUANIA’S POLITICAL PARTIES ....................... 120 III. LAWS PASSED ON ENERGY POLICY IN THE LITHUANIAN SEIMAS .. 135 vi IV. CONCLUSIONS ..................................................................................................... 147 CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE RESEARCH .............................................. 151 II. FINDINGS: QUESTIONS TO EU PARLIAMENT REVEAL OCCASIONAL TENSIONS BETWEEN NATIONAL INTERESTS AND INTERNATIONAL PARTY GROUPINGS.................................................................................................. 153 III. AREAS FOR FUTURE STUDY IN THE EUROPEAN UNION ...................... 155 IV. ENERGY POLICY DYNAMICS IN THE LITHUANIAN SEIMAS ............... 156 BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................... 159 vii List of Tables and Figures Figure 1: Nuclear Energy Dynamics in Written Questions to the EU Parliament – 78 Figure 2: Hydraulic Fracturing Dynamics in Written Questions to the EU Parliament – 85 Figure 3: Coal Energy Dynamics in Written Questions to the EU Parliament – 89 Figure 4: Wind Energy Dynamics in Written Questions to the EU Parliament – 98 Figure 5: Solar Energy Dynamics in Written Questions to the EU Parliament – 102 Table 1: Lithuanian Party Groupings 1992-2016 – 134 Figure 6: Energy Policy Dynamics in the Lithuanian Seimas – 137 1 Chapter 1. Introduction Energy and environmental politics and policies have been studied and examined from different angles and perspectives by political scientists (Llewelyn Hughes and Phillip Y. Lipscy 2013, Brenda Shaffer 2009, Goldthau Andreas, and Jan Martin Witte 2010, Steve Yetiv 2015), economist (Youngho Chang, Zheng Fanga, Yanfei Li 2016), energy specialists (Thijs Van de Graaf, Benjamin K. Sovacool, Arunabha Ghosh, Florian Kern, Michael T. Klare 2016), civil servants (John M. Deutch 2011), and former U.S. Vice President (Al Gore 2006). These are just a few examples of the many scholars who have studied the complexity of energy policy. Like many other researchers, I am also interested in studying energy policy, and in my dissertation, I offer an analysis of energy policy development in two unique legislative bodies: the European Union Parliament and the Lithuanian Parliament or the Seimas. To better understand energy policy developments in these two forums, I collected and analyzed two datasets: questions dealing with energy submitted by Members of the European Parliament (MEPs)