The Swiss energy policy elite: The actor constellation of a policy domain in transition

In the actor-centered institutionalist approach of Fritz Scharpf (1997), `actor constellations' constitute the crucial link between substantive policy analysis and interaction-oriented policy research. This paper presents an attempt to conceptualize the `actor constellation' in a given policy domain and to analyze it empirically with network analysis. The empirical context is provided by the Swiss energy policy elite in the late 1990s - an example of a policy domain in transition between two policy equilibria. Based on interviews with 240 of the core actors in this policy elite, the results show a characteristic antagonism between a pro-ecology and a pro-growth coalition. On the national level, the two coalitions are of comparable size and power, which explains the current impasse in the policy domain in question. Moreover, in a federalist state like Switzerland, the energy policy elite is not concentrated at the center, but the basic antagonism is reproduced in each region nationwide. Confirming the consensus character of Swiss politics, the different components of the two antagonist coalitions not only cooperate within, but also across coalitions. These cooperative ties and the presence of honest brokers, policy enterpreneurs, and heterogeneous interests within each coalition provide opportunities for new alliances, which may lead out of the current impasse in the more or less near future.