The anti-politics of smart energy regimes

Jathan Sadowski, Anthony M. Levenda

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

46 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In this paper, we explicate how smart energy infrastructures embed and enact politics. By advancing the framework of technopolitics, and building on two in-depth case studies of the US and Australia, this paper analyzes the emergence and effects of the smart energy sector. With the aim of economizing electricity, the “modernization” of the energy sector has followed from historical dynamics of deregulation and marketization. Based on interviews and document analysis, we argue that a specific logic, which we call anti-politics, is now being enacted through the creation of policies and technologies that aim to reduce and remove human agency from energy systems. Analyses based on post-politics do not fully capture the extent to which politics—the continual process of disagreement and deliberation—has been purged from the ideologies and institutions that govern energy and society. In addition to the technocratic evolution beyond politics, we are witnessing the neoliberal elimination of politics.

Original languageEnglish
Article number102202
Number of pages8
JournalPolitical Geography
Volume81
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2020

Keywords

  • Anti-Politics
  • Electricity
  • Infrastructure
  • Smart technology
  • Techno-politics

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