Governance, depoliticization, and nuclear power in Britain and the United States

ABSTRACT

Governance is a form of statecraft used to work through networks. A complementary perspective to governance is depoliticization which considers statecraft under neoliberalism. This article argues that depoliticization is a way of practicing governance. Depoliticization techniques can be understood as institutional, societal, or discursive and each technique is associated with a particular style of governance. Case studies of government efforts to revive nuclear power in Britain and the United States [US] through governance are used to consider the argument and extend the literature on depoliticization. Evidence is presented that a failure to realize policy goals through governance may be due to the use of inappropriate techniques of depoliticization.

KEYWORDS:

• Governance
• nuclear power
• depoliticization
• Britain
• United States

Acknowledgments

The author wishes to thank the editor of Policy Studies and the anonymous reviewers.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was carried out as part of the SPRIng project, aimed at developing a decision-support framework for assessing the sustainability of nuclear power, led by the University of Manchester and carried out in collaboration with City and Southampton Universities. This work was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council [grant number EP/F001444/1].

Notes on contributors

Keith Baker

Keith Baker is an Associate Professor of Public Administration at the College of Brockport, NY. His research and teaching interests focus on state/society relationships and modes of governance within these. Keith has previous held positions at Oregon State University and Northumbria University, UK.