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Access Type

WSU Access

Date of Award

January 2025

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Department

Political Science

First Advisor

Sharon F. Lean

Abstract

Electricity generation remains a key ingredient in sustained economic development and policy to manage the global energy transition, even while it contributes to increased atmospheric emissions. A critical policy choice for developing countries has been over electricity production via fossil fuels or from renewable sources, and governments and firms in those countries face external constraints as they seek to sustain their electricity infrastructure and to diversify the technology used in generation. Public and private investment in electricity generation has become more uncertain. This dissertation uses a mixed-method approach and multiple datasets to explore the impact of domestic political, and international economic conditions on investment in installed electricity capacity, and on the choice of electricity generation technology. I assess variation in the annual changes in net installed capacity and the type of generation technology utilized in developing countries from Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean for the period 1990-2022. The principal finding points to the importance of global economic conditions specifically oil price changes and state fiscal capacity in shaping changes in infrastructure investment. The dissertation contributes to the literature on political economy in developing countries, institutional analyses of development policy, and the politics and policy of the global energy transition.

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