10 POWERING THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA …
267
23.9
56.6
7.7
0.4
7.7 3.7
Share (%) of electricity generaƟon by fuel in the Middle East
in 2019
Oil
Natural gas
Coal
Nuclear
Hydroelectric
Renewables
Fig. 10.1 Share of electricity generation by fuel in the Middle East (including
Egypt and Turkey) (Source BP Statistical Review of World Energy, 2020)
regime includes a local variant of capitalism known as Khaleeji capitalism,
the kafala system for sponsoring foreign labour, the rentier mentality,
energy subsidies, state-owned hydrocarbon companies, and petrochemical industries. 11 A systemic, energy regime change is rare but can occur
if major coalitions of actors align their behaviour with disruptive impulses
at the landscape and niche levels. In most cases, the pathways of regime
change are incremental. 12
The shortcomings of the MLP framework have been discussed elsewhere. Nevertheless, as noted by Dennis Kumetat, its strength lies ‘in its
explanatory power, which captures the systemic change on these three
analytical scales as well as the interplay between them’. 13 MLP also offers
an elegant opportunity to focus on the significance of regime agency in
facilitating or hindering a niche breakout by nuclear energy; it is precisely
this agency that informs much of the analysis in this chapter, in line with
calls to bring politics back in. 14 This is because changes at the landscape
and niche levels are not merely functional or linear; it is ‘interpretive
actors’ at the niche and regime levels who ‘fight, negotiate, search, learn,
and build coalitions as they navigate transitions’. 15 While MLP has guided
discussions of nuclear energy in the US, Asia, and Europe, 16 to the best
267
23.9
56.6
7.7
0.4
7.7 3.7
Share (%) of electricity generaƟon by fuel in the Middle East
in 2019
Oil
Natural gas
Coal
Nuclear
Hydroelectric
Renewables
Fig. 10.1 Share of electricity generation by fuel in the Middle East (including
Egypt and Turkey) (Source BP Statistical Review of World Energy, 2020)
regime includes a local variant of capitalism known as Khaleeji capitalism,
the kafala system for sponsoring foreign labour, the rentier mentality,
energy subsidies, state-owned hydrocarbon companies, and petrochemical industries. 11 A systemic, energy regime change is rare but can occur
if major coalitions of actors align their behaviour with disruptive impulses
at the landscape and niche levels. In most cases, the pathways of regime
change are incremental. 12
The shortcomings of the MLP framework have been discussed elsewhere. Nevertheless, as noted by Dennis Kumetat, its strength lies ‘in its
explanatory power, which captures the systemic change on these three
analytical scales as well as the interplay between them’. 13 MLP also offers
an elegant opportunity to focus on the significance of regime agency in
facilitating or hindering a niche breakout by nuclear energy; it is precisely
this agency that informs much of the analysis in this chapter, in line with
calls to bring politics back in. 14 This is because changes at the landscape
and niche levels are not merely functional or linear; it is ‘interpretive
actors’ at the niche and regime levels who ‘fight, negotiate, search, learn,
and build coalitions as they navigate transitions’. 15 While MLP has guided
discussions of nuclear energy in the US, Asia, and Europe, 16 to the best