Dr. Takahiro Oki

Dissertation Title: Business Lobbying in European Union Energy And Environmental Policy Making - A Discourse Analysis of the EU Ecodesign Policy

Takahiro Oki was a doctoral candidate at the Bavarian School of Public Policy. His research revisited the power of business actors in EU energy and environmental policymaking and explained why powerful business actors at times fail to influence policy-making processes and to obtain preferred outcomes. Theoretically, this research took a social constructivist perspective with a focus on the role of discourses as well as  historical and social institutionalism, adding a value to the academic literature on interest representation that has primarily focused on financial and non-financial resources of business actors. Methodologically, the research combined the single-case method, the process-tracing method, and participant observation to analyze the EU ecodesign policy - a policy that sets minimum requirements for a wide range of electric and electronic products in order to enhance energy efficiency and environmental performance.

He received his Master's degree in International Political Economy from Kassel University in Germany and his Bachelor's degree in European History from Rikkyo University in Japan.