Jan-Hendrik Passoth - Digital Infrastructure, State Power and Power beyond the State

"Digital Infrastructure, State Power and Power beyond the State"

Lecture, 3rd Summer School Viadrina Center B/ORDERS IN MOTION

Tue, 24th, 14:05-15:30 

Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Jan-Hendrik Passoth (European New School of Digital Studies, European University Viadrina/Collegium Polonicum)

The relationship of infrastructure and nation states has been characterized by a modern promise of stability: large infrastructure projects such as roads, electricity or telecommunication systems were driven by nation states, at least until the 1960s. This promise of stability has also from the early 20th century on characterized European infrastructure projects, creating a „hidden integration“ (Misa/Schot 2005) of Europe by engineering infrastructural Europeanism. This modern promise has been broken many times since the 1970s: by privatization and deregulation, the rise of private platforms, by large scale public-private digital infrastructure projects. The European Union, on the other hand, has also changed and turned into an experiment in post-national constitutionalism. How can we as researchers, but also as political actors and citizens map, understand and co-design current technopolitical projects such as Europe’s digital migration and border control? The talk will introduce some conceptual tools, some guidelines for re-design and a few formats and ideas for intervention.