2026/07/10 by Arash Beidollahkhani · 1 voice
Energy · Environmental Science · Social Sciences · #Global Energy Security and Policy #Sustainability and Climate Change Governance #Water Governance and Infrastructure
paper · doi:10.1002/pad.70103
openalex publication_date 2026/07/10 · openalex created_date 2026/07/11 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/12
ABSTRACT Digitalisation is widely framed as a route to more efficient and participatory public administration. In authoritarian settings, however, digital governance often works less as administrative improvement than as a technopolitical instrument for managing dissent and insulating policy from contestation. This article examines technopolitical energy governance as administrative closure through which political conflict is recast as technical management, grassroots participation is constrained, and accountability is displaced into bureaucratic routines. Based on a comparative qualitative study using policy documents and semi‐structured interviews, the article analyses how digital infrastructures reshape energy policy making and redefine who is entitled to participate. Focusing on Iran and Saudi Arabia, it traces two converging logics. In Iran, digital systems become most visible during crises such as fuel price reforms and blackouts. In Saudi Arabia, digitalisation is embedded within long‐term development planning, where grassroots engagement is selectively structured, narrowing opportunities for meaningful participation in energy policy.