The Prospects of Local Mobilisations Against Renewable Energy: the Aegean Case in Turkey

Abstract

This study examines the prospects for local movements in confronting the environmental and social injustices of renewable energy production, often portrayed as vital for addressing climate, energy and capitalist crises. Focusing on mobilisations against geothermal projects in Turkey, where an increasingly authoritarian government exploits the legitimacy of renewable energy to consolidate power, it reveals that despite their rapid spread, local movements achieved only limited success in blocking specific projects. It demonstrates that, constrained by restricted political space and a lack of effective leadership, these movements failed to evolve into a unified political subjectivity capable of challenging broader geothermal policies and associated power relations.