Tall tales, small change: narrative policy analysis and spatial constructions of energy norms in the Land of the Long White Cloud

Narrative policy analysis provides a powerful tool for developing geographical accounts of how lines of argumentation coalesce into metanarratives that significantly shape the political room for transforming energy systems. In common with approaches like discourse and actor-coalition frameworks, narrative policy analysis seeks to the investigate the key lines of argument and alliance formation used to promote or resist policy change, their values, norms, assumptions and adherents, and their influence on decision-making. However, unlike techniques that emphasise quasi-universalised accounts of how ideas and coalitions influence policy change (e.g. market rationalism and punctuated equilibrium), narrative policy analysis focuses more directly on how storylines and politics intertwine in specific jurisdictions and on enabling the recasting of highly polarised or entrenched issues to make them more amenable to political negotiation and policy-making. Through examination of energy and climate policy in New Zealand, we illustrate how narratives emphasising the country’s resource-dependent trade-exposed economy, its small contribution to global emissions, and market-led solutions have contributed to ‘empty-shell’ energy-policy architectures that give the appearance of action while promoting the status quo and displacing responsibilities to other countries. Critical dissembling of such narratives, we argue, assists in unveiling opportunities to reframe problems and challenge norms and, in so doing, creating negotiation space for enacting bespoke energy transformations in diverse political, social and economic contexts.