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

尽管阿拉伯国家联盟的经济体使用的可再生能源是世界上最少的，但也有少数国家开始采用太阳能和风能。鉴于这些发展，本博士论文试图了解中东和北非(MENA)地区进行脱碳的条件。通过研究三个案例研究--摩洛哥、黎巴嫩和阿拉伯联合酋长国--论文将调查支撑区域(非)采用可再生能源的政治经济特征。根据论述中的制度主义学问，有人会认为，当国家政策精英接受脱碳对其经济“有好处”这一观点时，脱碳就会发生。这一假设是，当阿拉伯国家的政策制定者参与国际气候变化政策论坛时，他们会受到“话语联盟”的影响--这些团体信仰相同的理念，但不一定拥有相同的利益--这反过来又会导致脱碳政策在国家背景下的传播、采纳和复制。这些想法被编入国家叙事，并构成了理解国家战略优先事项的方式。为了验证我的假设，我将采访参与区域(去)碳化的主要利益集团，包括能源部、政策论坛、电力公用事业、石油和天然气公司以及激进团体的代表。然后，我将使用过程跟踪方法来确定和评估思想传播到国家决策结构中所涉及的因果机制。鉴于学术界对中东和北非地区基于利益和制度的政治经济学方法的持续关注，这一跨学科项目将填补能源转型、中东和北非地区和政治经济学研究中重要的经验和方法论方面的空白。

Although the economies of the League of Arab States use the least renewable energy in theworld, a limited number are beginning to adopt solar and wind energy. In light of suchdevelopments, this PhD proposal seeks to understand the conditions under whichdecarbonisation takes place in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. By examiningthree case studies - Morocco, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates - the thesis willinvestigate the features of the political economy that underpin the regional (non-)adoptionof renewable energy. Drawing on discursive institutionalist scholarship, it will be argued thatdecarbonisation happens when national policy elites accept the idea that decarbonisation is'good' for their economies. The hypothesis is that when Arab state policymakers participatein 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 policiesin national contexts. These ideas become woven into national narratives and frame the waysin which national strategic priorities are understood. To test my hypothesis, I will interviewkey interest groups involved in regional (de)carbonisation, including representatives ofenergy ministries, policy fora, electric utilities, oil and gas companies and activist groups. Iwill then use process-tracing methods to identify and evaluate the causal mechanismsinvolved in the diffusion of ideas into national policymaking structures. Given ongoingscholarly fixation with interest- and institutional-based political economy approaches to theMENA region, this interdisciplinary project will fill important empirical and methodologicalgaps in energy transition, MENA region and political economy studies.