As part of developing this hypothesis, we have discussed various literatures related to understandings of ‘the deep state’, drawing attention to less visible power structures which may impinge upon ‘conventional’ energy policy decision making. In her blog Jessica argued that the deal with China somehow ‘disproved’ our hypothesis (because the UK government would not risk China gaining access to sensitive submarine-related nuclear activity), while also making the claim (that has been frequently encountered) that to even pose the question regarding the linkages between submarine-related nuclear activity and civilian nuclear power somehow represents a ‘conspiracy theory’. We were grateful for this intervention; however, we felt that it mischaracterized key parts of our argument, and thus we responded to Jessica’s comments on the POLET Network blog. We hope these dialogues can continue.
SPRU 11th Jan 2016 read more »