Castán Broto, V; (2016) Innovation Territories and Energy Transitions: Energy, Water and Modernity in Spain, 1939–1975. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning , 18 (5) pp. 712-729. 10.1080/1523908X.2015.1075195.

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Abstract

This paper engages with debates about the need for a deeper theorization of the political and spatial aspects of socio-technical transitions by examining the relevance of the concept of political technology for this body of theory. Political technologies are systematic and applied frameworks deployed to advance specific strategies to transform governments and societies. Looking at the role of political technologies within processes of systemic innovation, I propose that political technologies develop within socio-technical regimes in purposive attempts to transform them. From this perspective, socio-technical transitions emerge in relation to the visions that inspire them, the forms of knowledge that enable their implementation and how they relate to access to resources and innovations. To illustrate the argument, the paper presents a case study of a socio-technical transition that took place in Spain with the consolidation of the electricity industry and the development of a national electricity network during Franco's dictatorship (1939–1975). Such a transition was possible within the framework of a politics of building hydraulic works, whereby certain spaces were designated as reservoirs of water. The way in which such networks were constituted still resonates with Spanish energy policy today.

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