ABSTRACT
The Fukushima meltdown in Tohoku, Japan, served as catalyst for some nations, including Germany, Belgium and Italy, to alter nuclear policies but had no impact on the approaches of a number of others such as Vietnam, China and Russia. Why, despite facing the same focusing event, did private- and state-owned utilities in some countries alter their nuclear energy policies while others kept the status quo. Adopting a mixed-methods approach to understand this variation in energy policy outcomes, quantitative analysis of 90 countries based on a new, sui generis dataset shows that strong voice/accountability is negatively correlated with changes in nuclear power programs while media openness and political stability are positively connected with atomic energy decisions. Using in-depth case studies of Germany and Japan, the role of domestic political institutions and country-specific norms is explored to show more precisely how actors interacted with ideas to influence energy decisions.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.