Constructing energy futures: Lessons from Reflexive Public Reason in China and Taiwan

Abstract

This paper explores the application of Reflexive Public Reason (RPR) and the Capturing Invisible Protocol (CIP) in addressing the complexities of energy transitions in China and Taiwan. RPR is a framework that emphasizes reflexivity, co-production and the critical role of imaginaries in shaping energy policy and managing uncertainty and risk. Through a comparative analysis of energy transitions in China and Taiwan, the study highlights sociotechnical imaginaries (STI) and civic epistemologies that guide their approaches to managing uncertainty and risk. As a result, this paper identifies two models of managing uncertainty and risk, China's flexible experimentation model and Taiwan's internally diverse civic epistemology. Building on this comparative dimension, I offer valuable insights for energy transitions around the world and the relationship between different visions of the future, risks and uncertainties, and resilience. Lessons from Chinese and Taiwanese energy transitions can be used as case studies of how resilience to the unknown in energy transitions can be approached differently. I argue that increasing awareness of the relationships between imaginaries, uncertainties, and risks by incorporating reflexivity into energy policy can help to increase resilience of energy transition. Furthermore, this paper argues for the adoption of CIP to systematically map visions, expert knowledge, and governance models. This paper contributes to the discussion on how the energy transition can be governed in different sociopolitical orders and shaped by different sociotechnical imaginaries.