Reinvestigating the state debate during the energy transition in the USA

This thesis examines the role of the American state during the energy transition process. Immanuel Wallerstein claimed that, since 1968, the American power weakens. Wallerstein showed that despite the American State's strategies for preventing the decline in American power in capitalism historically, its hegemony continues to be eroded. The energy transition process could be an opportunity for the United States of America (USA) for reinforcing its hegemony. The USA's economy is largely based on fossil fuel supplies, but, in the last decades, the share of renewable energy sources in electricity production increased significantly. Although there has been a continuous energy transition in the USA, there were different approaches in the USA's government policy regarding rising conflicts among different producers and consumers during the energy transition in the last decade. These different approaches stem from the role of state in responding to the conflicts between the fractions of the capitalist class. In this research, I analyzed the actors of the American state and their different approaches to demonstrate the role of state in the on-going power struggle in capitalism during energy transition within the case of the USA historically. The USA's energy transition is mostly occurred in the electricity generation sector, and the change in relations of production observed in the electricity generation sector. Thus, I focused particularly on the electricity sector to investigate the policies of the state, which promote its hegemony, support some fractions of the capitalist class and punish some fractions of the capitalist class. I used Historical Materialist Policy Analysis to examine the discourses of the Obama Administration, the Trump Administration, the Biden Administration, and the Democrats and the Republicans in the Congress about the energy transition between 2008 and 2021 by acknowledging the continuities and changes in the historical position of the state within the context of the State Debate in Marxist studies.