Green Revolutions? The political economy of the energy transition in the UAE, Jordan and

Although the economies of the League of Arab States use the least renewable energy in the
world, a limited number are beginning to adopt solar and wind energy. In light of such
developments, this PhD proposal seeks to understand the conditions under which
decarbonisation takes place in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. By examining
three case studies - Morocco, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates - the thesis will
investigate the features of the political economy that underpin the regional (non-)adoption
of renewable energy. Drawing on discursive institutionalist scholarship, it will be argued that
decarbonisation happens when national policy elites accept the idea that decarbonisation is
'good' for their economies. The hypothesis is that when Arab state policymakers participate
in international climate change policy fora, they are influenced by 'discourse coalitions' -
groups that believe in the same ideas, but do not necessarily share the same interests -
which in turn cause the transmission, adoption and reproduction of decarbonisation policies
in national contexts. These ideas become woven into national narratives and frame the ways
in which national strategic priorities are understood. To test my hypothesis, I will interview
key interest groups involved in regional (de)carbonisation, including representatives of
energy ministries, policy fora, electric utilities, oil and gas companies and activist groups. I
will then use process-tracing methods to identify and evaluate the causal mechanisms
involved in the diffusion of ideas into national policymaking structures. Given ongoing
scholarly fixation with interest- and institutional-based political economy approaches to the
MENA region, this interdisciplinary project will fill important empirical and methodological
gaps in energy transition, MENA region and political economy studies.