Energy Democracies for Sustainable Futures explores how our dominant carbon and nuclear energy assemblages shape conceptions of participation, risk, and in/securities, and how they might be reengineered to deliver justice and democratic participation in transitioning energy systems. Chapters assess the economies, geographies and politics of current and future energy landscapes, exposing how dominant assemblages (composed of technologies, strategies, knowledge and authorities) change our understanding of security and risk, and how they these shared understandings are often enacted uncritically in policy. Contributors address integral relationships across the production and government of material and human energies and the opportunities for sustainable and democratic governance.
In addition, the book explores how interest groups advance idealized energy futures and energy imaginaries. The work delves into the role that states, market organizations and civil society play in envisioned energy change. It assesses how risks and security are formulated in relation to economics, politics, ecology, and human health. It concludes by integrating the relationships between alternative energies and governance strategies, including issues of centralization and decentralization, suggesting approaches to engineer democracy into decision-making about energy assemblages.
- Explores descriptive and normative relationships between energy and democracy
- Reviews how changing energy demand and governance threaten democracies and democratic institutions
- Identifies what participative energy transformations look like when paired with energy security
- Reviews what happens to social, economic and political infrastructures in the process of achieving sustainable and democratic transitions
Majia Nadesan is a professor of communication in the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences in the New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences. She received her Ph.D. in communication studies in 1993 from Purdue University after earning her B.S. and M.S. in the same subject from San Diego State University. Prior to joining the faculty at ASU's College of Human Services in 1994, Dr. Nadesan was an assistant professor at Syracuse University. She investigates the role of politics and scientific uncertainty in risk assessment across energy and sustainability literatures. She has worked extensively on Foucauldian governmentality and biopolitics.
Martin Pasqualetti is a Professor of Geography in the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning at Arizona State University and co-director of the Energy Policy Information Council (EPIC). He is an elected Fellow of the American Association of Geographers; a recipient of the Alexander and Ilse Melamid Medal (American Geographical Society), and the 2018 Distinguished Alumnus of the Year at the University of California (Riverside). His general research interests encompass three areas of emphasis: energy and society, energy and land use, and renewable energy development. His current research concentrates on the social acceptance of renewable energy landscapes and recycling of energy landscapes. He has served two Arizona governors as chair of the Arizona Solar Energy Advisory Council, and he was as a founding member of the Arizona Solar Center. He serves on 10 editorial boards, including Energy Research & Social Science.
Jennifer Keahey is Senior Sustainability Scholar, Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability and Assistant Professor of Sociology, School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences. Keahey’s research centers on questions pertaining to sustainable production and trade, including the rise of the global fair trade movement, organic standards, and slow food trends. Linking political economy to sustainable development, Keahey examines the influence of sustainable trade systems on specific commodity chains and clarifies how marginal producer groups experience sustainability standards and certifications, providing insight into the less-examined dimension of social sustainability
