Structure, agency and post-Fukushima nuclear policy: an alliance-context-actantiality model of political change

Abstract

The Fukushima Daichii nuclear disaster has radically reshaped domestic Japanese energy policy, political economy and citizen-state relations within a very short time period. This destabilised period of post-Fukushima nuclear policy is considered in meta-theoretical terms, drawing upon the work of Colin Hay in describing a Punctuated Evolution model of stability and change. This in turn, draws upon the concepts of structure and agency, and the material and ideational. I assess and apply Jessop and Hay's Strategic Relational Approach (SRA) to resolving these issues, with reference to the Fukushima disaster throughout. The ontological weaknesses of the SRA are discussed, namely the weak conceptualisation of 'the material', leading to the construction of a new hybrid model. Hay's concept of Structure-StrategyAgency is augmented into one of Alliance-Context-Actantiality; drawing upon concepts from Actor Network Theory to better articulate the role of artefacts, physical and material processes in influencing stability and change in risk politics.Key words: Fukushima, nuclear energy, Strategic Relational Approach, Actor Network Theory. Structure, agency and post-Fukushima nuclear policy: an Alliance-Context-Actantiality model of political change AbstractThe Fukushima Daichii nuclear disaster has radically reshaped domestic Japanese energy policy, political economy and citizen-state relations within a very short time period. This destabilised period of post-Fukushima nuclear policy is considered in meta-theoretical terms, drawing upon the work of Colin Hay in describing a Punctuated Evolution model of stability and change. This in turn, draws upon the concepts of structure and agency, and the material and ideational. I assess and apply Jessop and Hay's Strategic Relational Approach (SRA) to resolving these issues, with reference to the Fukushima disaster throughout. The ontological weaknesses of the SRA are discussed, namely the weak conceptualisation of 'the material', leading to the construction of a new hybrid model. Hay's concept of Structure-StrategyAgency is augmented into one of Alliance-Context-Actantiality; drawing upon concepts from Actor Network Theory to better articulate the role of artefacts, physical and material processes in influencing stability and change in risk politics.

Rebirth, Devastation and Sickness: Analyzing the Role of Metaphor in Media Discourses of Nuclear Power

“…The disaster and its communication catalyzed the re-emergence of alternative policy discourses or frames of nuclear policy (including anti-nuclear and pro-renewable energy frames), particularly in Japan, Germany and Italy (Butler, Parkhill, & Pidgeon, 2011; see also Cotton, 2014). In the UK, however, this effect was less pronounced.…”

Portuguese media representations of nuclear facilities in Almaraz, Spain: beyond borders and risk perception (Representaciones en los medios portugueses de las plantas nucleares en Almaraz, España: más allá de las fronteras y la percepción del riesgo)

“…However, these alternatives are more carbon intensive and are perceived as involving several environmental and health risks, and so tend to be even more controversial than renewables (Cotton, 2015;Johnstone, 2014). This has been very clear with nuclear, the target of moratoriums in several countriesespecially after Fukushima (Cotton, 2015;Poortinga, Aoyagi, & Pidgeon, 2013) and of protests against it ever since the 1960s (Barca & Delicado, 2016). Social science's literature has therefore been attempting to better understand people's attitudes and beliefs regarding nuclear power plants and nuclear waste facilities, now seen as 'the Achilles Heel of the nuclear industry' (Bickerstaff & Johnstone, 2017, p. 139; also Barke & Jenkins-Smith, 1993;Slovic, Layman, & Flynn, 1991).…”

“…However, whereas most people agree with generating energy from renewable sources, when specific infrastructures are deployed in particular locations, they are often opposed, mainly due to their impact on landscapes, place attachments and lack of procedural and distributive justice in their deployment (see Devine-Wright, 2013a; Zoellner, Schweizer-Ries, & Wemheuer, 2008 for reviews). In so being, and also due to the costs associated with the intermittency of renewables (Devine-Wright & Devine-Wright, 2006), other energy alternatives have also been promoted, such as with the nuclear renaissance in the UK (Cotton, 2015; Johnstone, 2014) or fracking (Thomas et al, 2017). However, these alternatives are more carbon intensive and are perceived as involving several environmental and health risks, and so tend to be even more controversial than renewables (Cotton, 2015; Johnstone, 2014).…”

“…In so being, and also due to the costs associated with the intermittency of renewables (Devine-Wright & Devine-Wright, 2006), other energy alternatives have also been promoted, such as with the nuclear renaissance in the UK (Cotton, 2015; Johnstone, 2014) or fracking (Thomas et al, 2017). However, these alternatives are more carbon intensive and are perceived as involving several environmental and health risks, and so tend to be even more controversial than renewables (Cotton, 2015; Johnstone, 2014). This has been very clear with nuclear, the target of moratoriums in several countries — especially after Fukushima (Cotton, 2015; Poortinga, Aoyagi, & Pidgeon, 2013) — and of protests against it ever since the 1960s (Barca & Delicado, 2016).…”

“…However, these alternatives are more carbon intensive and are perceived as involving several environmental and health risks, and so tend to be even more controversial than renewables (Cotton, 2015; Johnstone, 2014). This has been very clear with nuclear, the target of moratoriums in several countries — especially after Fukushima (Cotton, 2015; Poortinga, Aoyagi, & Pidgeon, 2013) — and of protests against it ever since the 1960s (Barca & Delicado, 2016).…”