Socio-Political Dimensions and Sociotechnical Knowledge in Energy Transition in South America: Analytical Framework.

This paper addresses the challenge of rethinking analytical concepts to understand energy transition (ET) processes in Southern countries, since the analytical framework for ET as it is framed by central and Eurocentric paradigms is inadequate.

Based on the theoretical and empirical results of a field research in several municipalities in Argentina and Chile, a proposal for new analytical frameworks about the multiplicity of social actors involved in the ET, and the change towards non-conventional renewable energies, is elaborated. Process that can no longer be understood as modernization and socio-economic change.

The main hypothesis highlights the relevance of political-institutional and cultural factors (especially those related to unequal knowledge distribution and production) and their interrelationships within the ET processes. A holistic, multi-actor and multidimensional view is suggested, starting up with the recognition of an asymmetric distribution of power, sociotechnical and ecological knowledge. The basic question is how to advance in a renewed and pertinent conceptual framework about local ET processes oriented towards socio-ecological-cultural change and the empowerment of local actors in the South.