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ID: 166367

Energy problem representation: the historical and contemporary framing of Australian electricity policy / Chester, Lynne; Elliot, Amanda

Chester, Lynne	Journal Article
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Summary/Abstract

This article contributes to the discussion of frameworks for conducting energy policy analysis. The article considers the influence of epistemic frames on energy policy decisions, and particularly the representation of energy problems, using a social constructionist approach and a case study of Australian electricity policy, the cornerstone of the nation's energy policy. Rather than contributing to the debate about the future of a country-specific electricity sector or a classification of differing conceptualisations of energy, the article focuses on 'the explanation of energy’ by investigating the framing of Australian electricity policy from early 20th century Federation to the contemporary era. A six-question analytical grid is deployed to examine how debates and policies about electricity provisioning—and the ‘energy problem’—have been constructed and reconstructed. The article concludes that the framing and reframing of the problem of ‘energy’ over time represents a key mechanism through which the state has represented, constituted and configured its role in the nation and reflects broader transformations in ‘governing’.

Key Words

Energy ; Australia ; Framing ; Problem Representation ; Electricity Policy ; Governing

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ID: 087729

Pragmatic Response to an Unexpected Constraint: Problem Representation in a Complex Humanitarian Emergency / Thomas Knecht

Thomas Knecht	Journal Article
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2009.

Summary/Abstract

This paper elaborates a model of problem representation first presented by Billings and Hermann (1998). The foreign policy process begins when decision-makers specify policy goals and identify relevant constraints in response to a perceived problem. Although this initial problem representation often sets the course for subsequent policy, unanticipated constraints can arise that catch decision makers off-guard. Finding themselves in a context they did not anticipate to be in, decision makers may choose to alter their representation of the problem and/or change the course of policy. Billings and Hermann offer one piece of this puzzle by examining how decision makers re-represent problems; this paper provides the second piece by assessing how policies, not representations, change in response to new constraints. A case study of the U.S. response to the Ethiopian famine in the mid 1980s demonstrates that policy does not always follow problem representation.

Key Words

Pragmatic Response ; Unexpected Constraint ; Problem Representation ; Humanitarian Emergency

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