Why Fossil Fuels Endure: Structural Constraints on Türkiye’s Green Energy Transition
International Area Studies Review, cilt.29, sa.2, ss.113-134, 2026 (ESCI, Scopus)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
- Cilt numarası: 29 Sayı: 2
- Basım Tarihi: 2026
- Doi Numarası: 10.69473/iasr.2026.29.2.113
- Dergi Adı: International Area Studies Review
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), Scopus
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.113-134
- Anahtar Kelimeler: Energy transition, Fossil lock-in, Innovation systems, Policy feedback, State capitalism
- Açık Arşiv Koleksiyonu: AVESİS Açık Erişim Koleksiyonu
- Karadeniz Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
This article examines the institutional obstacles to the green shift in Türkiye. Based on the theoretical approach that combines state capitalism, path dependency, national innovation systems, and policy-feedback mechanisms, it explains how the tax revenues, education-labour market misalignments, and pre-leading status of the defence sector strengthen a crowding-out process that undermines green innovation and human-capital investments. The article not only provides the concept of fiscal lock-in as an insufficiently discussed and a vital aspect of fossil path dependency, but it also highlights indirect carbon rents in non-rentier states as a key process of policy inertia. It synthesises political economy and innovation system views, which adds to the literature on fossil lock-ins and energy transition governance. It also calls for a broader understanding of policy priorities beyond techno-fixes and insists on the need to capture structural aspects of a rapid energy transition, like fiscal policy, human capital trends, and innovation systems, to understand the inertia affecting a rapid transition of the energy mix.