Measuring and explaining policy paradigm change: the case of UK energy policy

Abstract

This paper contributes to the literature on institutional change by creating a framework that both measures and explains policy change. The framework is then applied to UK energy policy from 2000 to 2011 and finds that a policy paradigm change has occurred. Contrary to expectations in the literature, however, the process of change has been informed by multiple narratives and the new governance system is complex and incoherent. The analysis also finds that there has been relatively little shift in how energy systems operate, suggesting shortcomings in a conceptual focus on institutional change over outcomes.