Struggles in European Union energy politics: A gramscian perspective on power in energy transitions

Over the past decades, a profound energy transition has begun. In 2014, the EU agreed to increase the share of renewable energy sources in its final energy consumption to at least 27 percent by 2030. This goal indicates that the transition will continue even as the speed of the transition is contested. To an even greater extent debates over the social character of the future energy regime also persist. This article argues that the energy transition is increasingly taking the shape of a passive revolution in a Gramscian sense, i.e. that transnational energy corporations (TNECs) are strengthening their efforts to dominate the new energy regime. Aside from its empirical focus, this paper also contributes to the attempts to better understand the role of politics, power and conflicts in energy transitions. Gramsci's integral understanding of structure and agency and the mediation of material interests and discursive constructions in struggles over hegemony offer a novel framework for the analysis of energy transitions.