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Coalition cascades: The politics of tipping points in clean energy transitions

Policy change often involves multiple policy subsystems, as in the case of clean energy transitions. We argue that trans-subsystem policy feedback is a central dynamic in policy change across subsystems. Policy in one subsystem creates benefits/costs and/or learning effects that mobilize actors for policy change in another subsystem, resulting in “coalition cascades” across interdependent subsystems. If coalition cascades lead to the resolution of coordination problems across subsystems, the system reaches a tipping point in policy change. Coalition cascades are thus the transmission belts of trans-subsystem policy feedback. We illustrate our argument in the case of California’s clean energy transition. We show how early renewable energy policy spilled over into the subsystems on grid policy—leading to energy storage policy—and on transport policy—resulting in electric vehicle charging policy. The article advances our understanding of the mechanisms underpinning trans-subsystem policy change, offering a model of the politics of tipping points.

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About the author

Jonas Meckling

Research Lead, Climate

Jonas Meckling is a professor of energy and environmental policy at the University of California, Berkeley. At Berkeley, he leads the Energy and Environment Policy Lab and the Climate research program of the Berkeley Economy & Society Initiative.

Meckling studies the politics of climate policy and the energy transition, with a focus on the intersection of climate and economic policy. He is the author of two books and publishes his research in leading journals, including Nature and Science. He has received multiple awards for his research from the American Political Science Association.

Previously, he was visiting professor at Harvard Business School and Yale University, served as senior advisor to the German Minister for the Environment and Renewable Energy, was a research fellow at Harvard Kennedy School, and worked at the European Commission. He holds a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics.

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