Andrew Lawrence is a research fellow at Wits School of Governance, South Africa and Visiting Professor at Vienna School of International Studies, Austria. He has written extensively on South Africa and the comparative and global political economy of energy. Publications include Employer and Worker Collective Action: A Comparative Study of Germany, South Africa, and the United States (2014).

1. Introduction

2. Competing paradigms for understanding energy transitions

The "natural" and "objective" constraints of coal?

Socio-technical transitions: RE transitions as critical conjuncture

Just transitions (JT), ecological, and critical political economy perspectives

Conclusion

3. Eskom and the Dual Character of the South African State

From MEC origins to apartheid crises

Power Outrages, 2008 and after: From crisis of delivery to crisis of governance

Conclusion

4. Non-RE alternative energies: nuclear, geothermal, fracking and offshore gas

Geothermal energy, fracking, and offshore gas

Nuclear energy: isihloko asivaliwe?

Conclusion

5. REIPPPP: Renewables' Rise, or REIPPPP RIP?

Conclusion

6. Conclusion: Just an Energy Transition - or a Just Transition?

Just transitions: combining energy justice with community reconstruction

Guaranteed full employment: achieving economic recovery with climate jobs

Conclusions

References