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

This paper contributes to the literature on institutional change by creating a framework, based on the work of Peter Hall, that both measures and explains policy paradigm change. It claims that UK energy policy did undergo a paradigm shift according to the framework used here. Two initially separate narratives, climate change and energy security, are found to have performed central functions within the process of change. This finding runs contrary to assumptions within sociological institutionalism. Furthermore, this paper concludes that the policy paradigm change appears to have had limited impact so far on core socio-technical characteristics of the energy system.