Dec 20, 2025 | Blog, Democracy and Transitions to Authoritarianism, Energy Transition Policy & Policymaking, Partisanship, Elections and the Energy Transition
[Note: This will be my last post of the year. Back in early January.] There’s been a lot of energy transition backsliding lately, some of it inevitable and some of it not. In bad political times it’s difficult to pair hope with clear-eyed realism. And I...
May 9, 2025 | Blog, Energy Transition Policy & Policymaking, News, Partisanship, Elections and the Energy Transition
Over the last few months Republicans in Congress have been writing strongly worded letters to each other about the various green energy subsidies created by the 2022 passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. In early March, 21 House Republicans urged Speaker Mike...
Jul 15, 2024 | Blog, Democracy and Transitions to Authoritarianism
In an earlier post I noted the growing list of scholars who warn of parallels between historical transitions from democracy to repressive dictatorships, on the one hand, and U.S. politics today, on the other. Part of what they see has to do with the recent...
Jun 1, 2024 | Blog, Democracy and Transitions to Authoritarianism
One of the central implications of the analysis in Climate of Contempt is that the energy transition is inextricably intertwined with U.S. political dysfunction. In chapter 6 I cite scholars who study transitions from democracy to populist authoritarianism who contend...