A Comparative Analysis Of The Energy Policy Of The Obama Administration And The Trump Administration

Energy policy is not one-dimensional,but involves political,economic and environmental impacts and factors.Over the past decade,the energy policy of the United States has been changed with the election of a new administration.Such changes can be manifested by divergence in preferences for different types of energy.The cause behind the divergence of the energy policy of the Obama administration and the Trump administration should be considered from the micro perspective of the strategic intents and aims of former president Barack Obama and incumbent president Donald Trump and their different preferences for traditional energy and new energy,which has corresponding political,economic and environmental impacts.Developing new energy is a key force for former president Obama to revitalize the national economy and secure the leadership of the United States in the world.Encouraging and supporting the traditional energy industry is an important promise of president Trump,who also intends to turn the US into an energy-dominant country by effectively developing traditional energy.This thesis is a comparative analysis of the energy policy of the Obama administration and the Trump administration.The main content includes the commonality,continuity and difference of their energy policy and the policy-making intents and the impacts of their energy policy By adopting historical and comparative research methodologies,combining literature reading and think tank information collection,this thesis firstly analyzes the commonality,continuity and difference of their energy policy,and then analyzes the policy-making intents of the Obama administration and the Trump administration with internationalism and Trump-style nationalism as an entry point respectively.Lastly,this thesis analyzes the diverse political,economic and environmental impacts of the energy policy of the two administrations.This thesis finds that the energy policy of the Obama administration and the Trump administration are common in their devotions to the ultimate goal of energy independence,energy security and revitalization of economy.The partial continuity of Trump's energy policy compared to that of the Obama administration can be found in both the new energy and traditional energy areas.The Trump administration supports a large scale of natural gas exploitation and the development of clean energy like nuclear power and renewable energy like bio-fuels.The Obama administration's energy policy-making is influenced by the intent of following internationalism and Trump's is influenced by the Trump-style nationalism.In terms of their energy policy's impacts,the Obama administration's energy policy featured by being green contributes more to environmental protection compared to that of the Trump administration,which is featured by American energy first and is devoted to making the United States an energy-dominant country,having an impact on the energy countries in traditional energy-rich regions and influencing the global energy supply pattern.