Abstract:
One of the greatest challenges facing states in the 21st century is the development of an environmentally sustainable techno-industrial paradigm. In recent years, governments across East Asia have begun to respond to this challenge through technology-based climate change mitigation strategies. Of these states, Taiwan’s efforts in the promotion of renewable energy technologies, particularly solar photovoltaic technology has been the subject of increasing scrutiny. The puzzle this study seeks to address is the divergence between Taiwan’s promotion of renewable energy as a strategically important emerging industry, and its slow domestic deployment of renewable energy technology in recent years. I suggest that Taiwan’s ‘green’ industry policy is the result of institutional recombination within a polarised political environment, which has supported the development of new strategic growth industries but limited certain state capacities in domestic market formation. I explore the development of cooperative institutional linkages between public R&D institutions, industry associations and private business in Taiwan’s solar energy and smart grid sector. I also examine how polarisation in Taiwan’s political environment has limited the state’s capacity to pursue domestic energy system transformation. These findings have implications for debates on developmental states confronting the challenge of innovation-based economic growth, and processes of institutional change. Taiwan demonstrates the importance of domestic political factors in determining a state’s capacity to transform its economy to a low-carbon techno-industrial paradigm.