A POLITICAL HISTORY AND SOCIOLOGY OF ENERGY TRANSITIONS AND MUTATIONS OF THE EUROPEAN DEMOCRACIES

MARC LAZAR

mlazar@luiss.it

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Course code:

ET99

General discipline (SSD):

SPS/11

Course year:

Semester:

Secondo Semestre

Partition of students:

Unique

Credits:

Teaching language:

English

Total lesson hours:

Academic year:

2026/2027

Description

Extended program and reference teaching materials

Instructional goals

This course begins with two observations regarding the interconnection in Europe between, on the one hand, environmental and energy issues, and on the other, matters of politics and policy within our democracies. On 2 September 2002, the President of the French Republic, Jacques Chirac, declared at the 4th Earth Summit in South Africa: “Our house is burning down and we refuse to admit it”. This striking statement had a huge impact. At the dawn of the new century, it demonstrated a European leader’s awareness of the importance of climate change and the need for action. Yet the policies adopted to address the climate challenge in France, as in the rest of Europe, have not always lived up to this cry of alarm. Moreover, they have often been contested and are now increasingly so. Thus, in 2026, President Donald Trump stated on several occasions that “climate change, made by stupid people” is “the greatest con job” and “scam”. Climate change is not a matter of consensus but of conflict. Furthermore, the war launched by Russia in Ukraine in 2022 and the war waged by the United States and Israel against Iran in 2026 triggered a new energy crisis and once again revealed the dependence of European democracies on imported fossil fuels. Faced with climate change and the persistent vulnerability of their energy systems, European countries and the EU are confronted with a series of highly political strategic choices. What type of energy should be adopted for the present and the future? How can the energy transition be achieved whilst inequalities are widening and political polarization is intensifying? What role should the state, but also citizens, play? How do policies at European level and those in each Member State fit together, at a time when political mistrust is growing and liberal, representative democracies are being called into question? This course does not merely analyze current events. It takes a long-term historical perspective to shed light on the present. It has three original features. Firstly, it examines the interactions between the various energy transitions (the shift to hydroelectric and coal power, then to nuclear, and now to renewable energy) and the evolution of European democracies from the 19th century to the present day. Secondly, it focuses on Western Europe in its ongoing relationship with the rest of the world, particularly the ‘Global South’, Russia, and the United States. Thirdly, it aims to combine environmental history and political history associated to political sociology.

Intended learning outcomes

The students will gain full knowledge of the issues of energy transition and the mutations of European democracies. That’s the reason why during the first session of the first week, we will start with the students' initial knowledge of these notions of energy transition and democracies. It will allow the Professor to adjust the level of the different lessons. The course aims to provide from one part a basic knowledge of questions of energy and a solid knowledge of institutions, system of parties and political parties at the European level. The goal is to understand and will not be accepted value judgments or ideological and politically biased analyses. The course will have a conceptual dimension, and an empirical dimension. Because we will study these questions from the XIX Century to our present times, Contextualization will be systematically considered. The course will integrate a comparative and transnational perspective. Focused on Europe, the course will take in account the permanent interaction with the rest of the world, integrating also some elements of geopolitics. The objective for students is to master the forms taken by the impact of the different energy transitions in history for the European democracies and the way in which these democracies have met these challenges. Because these issues are not resolved and will weigh on the future of the new generations, This could be useful to the students in their future professional life in the private sector, for consulting jobs, in institutions, diplomacy, community life, politics for those who are destined for it, journalism, the world of culture or the academic carriers. The pedagogy adopted will be a mix of lectures and, according to the importance of the audience, some or continuous interaction with students. Each week the first course will be a general presentation of a precise topic by the professor followed by a discussion more or less extended with the students based on a text they must read and comment on. These texts (15 to 20 pages) will be or primary sources or academic papers written by scholars. The second session begins with an intervention by the professor who finishes the presentation of the first session, answering eventual questions by the students, and followed by a course organized around an essay question. Students must read the readings each week for the first course but also submit during the course one position papers of 300 words on the reading to be done for the first course or on the question discussed in the second session of the week. For the course of week 10, the position paper will consist of an analysis of surveys. A midterm written exam of one hour will be organized. It will be an essay question and after the exam a general briefing of the exam will be done. This midterm exam as the final exam supposed a permanent presence of the students in class and a good knowledge of the texts they must read. For the last class, all the students must do a brief research with an oral presentation. The topic of the research is indicated on week 12 In addition, at the end of the course, a final written exam of one hour will be organized. It will be an essay question. To pass this exam the students must be present at all the sessions of the courses and read all the texts. For all these reasons, this course cannot be choosen by non-attending students.

Course Contents

The pedagogy adopted will be a mix of lectures and according to the importance of the audience, some or continuous interaction with students. There is not a Handbook on the topic of this course. It means the students must read the text each week for the discussion in class for the first session of the course about the readings and must be regularly present in class. That’s the reason why this course cannot be chosen by non-attending students. Each week, during the second session of the course, if it’s necessary, there is a summary or a complement of the first session of the course by prof. Marc Lazar. Then the course is based on an essay question.

Reference Books

Saggi e Articoli

Teaching Methods

Assessment Method

The students will have to read the lecture each week but also each student will have to submit one position papers of 300 words during the course, on the reading to be done for the first course or on will a very brief essay question discussed in the second session of the week. The position papers based on the readings for the first course of the week consist not of a summary of the texts to be read but of indicating the points that the students do not understand or want to explore in depth or that they criticize. The position papers “essay question” consists of a personal answer to the question asked and based as much as possible on readings. During the course, the students who wrote a position paper will have to present it in 5 minutes in front of the class. During the second week of course), all the students will have to choose the position papers they will do. The students will have to respect the dealine indicated (each day of delay will be penalized by one less point). The paper positions will have to be sent to prof. Marc Lazar (mlazar@luiss.it) and in cc to his TA A midterm written exam of one hour will be organized. It will be an essay question and after the exam a general briefing of the exam will be done. This midterm exam as the final exam supposed a permanent presence of the students in class and a good knowledge of the texts they must read. At the end of the course, a final written exam of one hour will be organized. It will be an essay question. To pass this exam the students must be present at all the sessions of the courses and read all the texts. In addition, the oral participation of the students will be evaluated by the professor during all the course and during the research done for week 12. The position papers will form 10% of the final grade, the oral participation 10%, the midterm 30% and the final paper 50%. For the students interested in deepening the subject of the course, Prof. Lazar will give a complete bibliography. All papers position must be on word (not pdf) and double-spaced in Times New Roman. Type your full name on the first page of the document. Name the file (in .doc) with your last name.

Thesis assignment criteria

To be agreed with the professor

Week 1

Week 1 is devoted to assessing students’ prior knowledge. General definitions of the concepts of energy transition and democracy will be provided. The choice of Europe and the chosen chronology will be explained and justified. The organization of the work for the semester will then be presented. As the course will, amongst other things, be based on students reading texts (primary sources and academic papers) for each session – which they will be required to comment on using the method outlined in the Course Overview – a practical exercise will be carried out using two types of text. Firstly, speeches by two political leaders, and secondly, academic papers on the energy transition and its relationship to democracy.

Week 2

Week 2. We will study democracies in Europe, distinguishing between different types: parliamentary democracies, democracies of political parties, democracies of audience, and finally the current transformations of democracies. Particular attention will be paid to institutions, party systems and political parties. We will emphasize the recurring nature of crises in democracies, their transformations, their ability (or inability) of responsiveness to the citizens’ expectations, and finally their intrinsic vulnerabilities. This ‘big picture’ aims to provide students with a solid foundation for the rest of the course and to help them grasp the relationship between energy models and political systems

Week 3

Week 3. We will examine, from a historical perspective, the relationship between energy models and the organization of democracies. We will focus on industrial societies relying, for the most part, on coal, hydroelectricity and then oil, but also on the exploitation of natural resources from the colonies of the great empires, and the forms taken by democratic regimes during the period from the 19th century to the 1950s and 1960s. Particular emphasis will be placed on the earliest environmental campaigns and mobilizations from the 19th century and the emergence and subsequent rise of the Labour movement – trade unions, particularly miners’ unions, and social-democrat and communist parties – as a key political force that influenced not only policies but also the imagined communities and representations of European societies.

Week 4

Week 4. Following the devastation of the Second World War, during which control over energy resources was essential, the period from 1945 to the mid-1970s is often referred to, using a French expression, as ‘les Trente glorieuses’. It was a time of reconstruction followed by seemingly limitless growth, relatively stable energy prices, prosperity, social benefits obtained through major social mobilizations, improved living standards, the emergence of the consumer society, rising education levels, and optimism – all in a European peaceful context. Governments most often played a leading role, establishing large state-owned electricity, gas and oil companies. This period also saw the development and subsequent integration of Europe, which incorporated an energy policy (ECSC, EURATOM, EEC). Finally, this was a period of energy abundance, particularly oil (Black Gold eclipsed King Coal), widespread electrification and the unbridled exploitation of the Earth’s resources. This extensive modernization caused environmental damage that was largely ignored by political leaders, with a few rare exceptions. One such exception was the Club of Rome, which in 1972 published a report entitled ‘The Limits to Growth’ and the emergence of the theory of degrowth. These warnings and recommendations, which received significant media attention, were largely ignored by governments and political parties for at least two reasons. On the one hand, from the late 1960s onwards, a vast movement of protest and dissent, driven in particular by young people—this new social group—destabilized liberal and representative democracy, forcing it to find responses (which combined repression with liberalization reforms); on the other hand, governments remain convinced of the soundness and validity of its economic and energy foundations

Week 5

Week 5. The world and Europe were destabilized and traumatized by the two oil crises – those of 1973 and 1979 – triggered by wars. In particular, Europe suddenly became aware of its energy dependence on oil and natural gas from the Middle East and began to question the political, economic, energy and social model built up over thirty years, which appeared to be collapsing. The Club of Rome report seemed prophetic, and many decision-makers referred to it. The energy issue became a central concern. We will examine the public debates sparked by this new situation, the emergence of environmentalists in politics, the positions of the main political parties, and the institutional responses—such as the creation in several countries of ministries responsible for energy and environmental issues, and the urgent development of short-, medium- and long-term policies.

Week 6

Week 6. The new ecological transition is represented by the development of nuclear energy. It has several fundamental political effects, which will be examined. It has sparked a wide-ranging debate between pro- and anti-nuclear advocates on the energy itself and its implications, on scientific and technical knowledge, on experts and technocracy, on growth, and on the way of life of all citizens. It has fostered the rise of environmentalists as new political actors. It has implications for the organization of the state and its policies. The issue of nuclear power will be examined more specifically from a political perspective through three case studies: France, Germany and Italy. We will seek to understand the commonalities and differences between these countries.

Week 7

Week 7. Week 7 is devoted primarily to the environmental disasters of the late 1970s (for example, Seveso in Italy in 1976 and Amaco Cadix in France in 1979) and their impact on public opinion as well as on decision-makers, with the UN report by Gro Harlem Brundtland, a Norwegian politician, which advocated sustainable development for the first time. At the same time, globalization and neoliberalism led to the liberalization of the energy sector, sparking political controversy and resulting in differing practices across EU member states. We will then analyze how Europe, and the governing parties within the Member States, began to address the climate challenge at a time when they were facing increasing opposition, losing support and entering a period of decline

Week 8

Week 8. We will examine the policies implemented, particularly from the early 2000s onwards, in a number of EU member states and at EU level to address the climate challenge. We will examine the positions of political actors. We will examine a case study emblematic of the difficulty to promote a climate change policy: the ‘Yellow Vests’ crisis in France in 2018 and 2019. We will study the European Union’s Green Deal and the increasingly vocal opposition to it since the start of the war in Ukraine. We will seek to understand why green parties are in sharp decline in most European countries.

Week 9

Week 9. We will examine the relationship between the rise of right-wing and left-wing populism across Europe and the energy transition. We will begin by defining the concept of populism, and we will highlight the similarities and differences—particularly with regard to climate change—between right-wing and left-wing populism. We will examine several case studies of this ‘eco-populism’ in various European countries.

Week 10

Week 10. This week will focus on European public opinion and issues relating to climate change and energy supply. We will examine various surveys to analyze Europeans’ level of knowledge regarding climate change, their attitudes towards the policies implemented in their own countries and at the European level, and their approval or disapproval of these policies within a context of widespread political mistrust, rejection of elites, skepticism towards science, criticism of liberal and representative democracy, and the decline of traditional parties.

Week 11

Week 11. This week will focus on the interactions between energy geopolitics, European democracies and the European Union in a new international environment marked by the war in Ukraine – and thus on the European continent – triggered by Russia, and the conflict between Israel and the United States with Iran. In Europe, we have moved from a ‘peacetime ecology’ to a ‘wartime ecology’ (Pierre Charbonnier), which entails reducing energy consumption, moving away from an economy based on fossil fuels – and particularly on gas and oil imports – and developing alternative energy sources. According to some authors and politicians, this involves embarking on a new energy transition to ensure Europe’s energy autonomy and security. But there is no consensus on these approaches. Faced with the climate challenge and the energy dependence of most European countries highlighted by these wars, what policies should be adopted with regard to Russia, North Africa, the Middle East and the United States? Is there a European policy on this matter, or does each state organize itself according to its own needs? What are the proposals of the main political actors? These are the questions that will be addressed.

Week 12

Week 12. The final week will consist of a collective research project on the current state of the ecological transition and the state of democracy. As elections are taking place in France, Italy, Spain and Poland, we will analyze the role of climate change in the election campaigns in these countries. This will enable us to reflect together on the future of both ecology and democracy in Europe.