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This is an interdisciplinary module tackling questions of interest to political science, geography, environment, engineering and anthropology. Infrastructure spans time and space, fills our daily lives but often remains invisible, especially when it works well. Our world is increasingly bound by transnational logistical networks and complex urban infrastructures, but what are the issues and debates surrounding the politics of infrastructure? Do all infrastructures bind, or do they also entrench segregation and dispossession?

The course starts with a look at theories of infrastructure and its relation to power before turning to in-depth case study driven work on roads, shipping and logistics, water and sanitation, failed infrastructures, and even the notion of ‘evil’ infrastructure. Students will undertake an interdisciplinary group presentation analysing a megaproject and showcasing their analytical skills in an individual report (quantitative or qualitative approaches both encouraged), as well as completing an analytical essay as part of the assessment. Each of the thematic units also develops skills and knowledge related to project management, public procurement and tendering, infrastructural financing in the developing world, decarbonization, debates on surveillance, as well as the geopolitical aspect of infrastructure seen in policies such as China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

Teaching Delivery

This module is taught in 10 weekly 2-hour lecture and seminar blocks.

Indicative Topics

The module will include the following topics (based on 2023/24 curriculum and subject to changes):

1. Introduction to the politics of infrastructure
2. Theorizing infrastructures
3. State power and infrastructure
4. Modernity and infrastructure
5. Megaprojects
6. Logistics
7. Water and sanitation
8. Infrastructural failures
9. Infrastructures of control and surveillance
10. Geopolitics and infrastructureÌý

Module aims and objectives

Upon completion, students will be able to:Ìý

• Learn to see the political relevance of logistical and infrastructural systemsÌý
• Understand how power relations are embedded into infrastructuresÌý
• Have a firm grasp on the practicalities of project-managing large infrastructureÌý
• Contextualize knowledge from this module with debates in other disciplinesÌý

Recommended Readings

• James C. Scott, Seeing like a StateÌý
• Timothy Mitchell, Carbon DemocracyÌý
• Deborah Cowen, The Deadly Life of LogisticsÌý