Relational Power and Environmental Norms: Regulating Fracking in the EU

The paper explores the relationship between relational power and the ability of non-state actors to shape environmental norms. Existing literature is focusing on attributional power (material and informational resources) in explaining the success of NGOs and corporations in changing environmental regulation. This paper claims that we need to consider also the power that these entities acquired by establishing dense connections among each other and by occupying in this way socially central positions in transnational policy networks. The paper studies non-state actors (environmental NGOs, companies, consultancies, etc.) involved in regulating fracking at the EU level starting with 2010. Not only its resources, but also the position a non-state actor occupies in the social structure working on fracking explains its success as a norm entrepreneur. The study draws on a wide range of documents and 42 interviews with policy elites conducted during a six month fieldwork in Brussels. The study uses an innovative combination of qualitative and social networks analysis to determine and compare the relational power displayed by different non-state actors involved in regulating fracking.