Towards an Energy Politics In-Against-and-Beyond the State:Berlin's Struggle for Energy Democracy

Social movements in struggle around energy are currently developing an imaginary of "energy democracy" to signify the emancipatory energy transitions they desire. Deploying a scholar-activist perspective, this paper contributes to debates around the concretisation of the energy democracy imaginary by exploring the relationship of energy democracy movements to the state. To do so, I focus on the experiences of the Berliner Energietisch campaign, which in 2013 forced (and lost) a referendum aiming to extend-and democratise-the local state's role in Berlin's energy governance. Drawing on relational theories of the state, I argue that it is productive to read Berliner Energietisch as enacting an energy politics in-against-and-beyond the state. In making this argument, I draw out implications for theoretical and strategic debates around the commons and the state.