Between energy and politics: Ruin, renewal, and the contours of state power in post-apartheid South Africa

Kód výsledku v IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F26482789%3A_____%2F25%3A10152669" target="_blank" >RIV/26482789:_____/25:10152669 - isvavai.cz</a>

Výsledek na webu

<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/02637758241242213" target="_blank" >https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/02637758241242213</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/02637758241242213" target="_blank" >10.1177/02637758241242213</a>

Jazyk výsledku

angličtina

Název v původním jazyce

Between energy and politics: Ruin, renewal, and the contours of state power in post-apartheid South Africa

Popis výsledku v původním jazyce

South Africa&apos;s energy system is in the midst of significant change and disturbance. On the one hand, a decrease in available generational capacity means that planned blackouts, known as load shedding, have increased to record levels over the last few years; on the other, the country has instituted an ambitious agenda to decarbonize its energy infrastructure. These processes have both caused upheaval across the country&apos;s cities and raised questions regarding the politics of infrastructural provision and development. This article contributes to these debates by exploring the confluence between infrastructure, urban development, and (geo)politics. In particular, we put concepts from critical infrastructure studies (ruin, renewal) into dialogue with Gramscian traditions of political economy in order to analyze what the ongoing breakdown of South Africa&apos;s energy system reveals about shifting power dynamics within the state apparatus. Likewise, we ask whether multi-scalar processes of infrastructural renewal will produce more equitable energy futures. We posit that the energy crisis is creating the pressures and policy space for a considerable reorganization of South Africa&apos;s governance, largely taking the form of decentralization wherein large cities attempt to attain significantly more autonomy vis-a-vis the central state. Nevertheless, as the crisis engenders movements and counter-movements, renewal is likely to be a protracted, and contested, process.

Název v anglickém jazyce

Between energy and politics: Ruin, renewal, and the contours of state power in post-apartheid South Africa

Popis výsledku anglicky

South Africa&apos;s energy system is in the midst of significant change and disturbance. On the one hand, a decrease in available generational capacity means that planned blackouts, known as load shedding, have increased to record levels over the last few years; on the other, the country has instituted an ambitious agenda to decarbonize its energy infrastructure. These processes have both caused upheaval across the country&apos;s cities and raised questions regarding the politics of infrastructural provision and development. This article contributes to these debates by exploring the confluence between infrastructure, urban development, and (geo)politics. In particular, we put concepts from critical infrastructure studies (ruin, renewal) into dialogue with Gramscian traditions of political economy in order to analyze what the ongoing breakdown of South Africa&apos;s energy system reveals about shifting power dynamics within the state apparatus. Likewise, we ask whether multi-scalar processes of infrastructural renewal will produce more equitable energy futures. We posit that the energy crisis is creating the pressures and policy space for a considerable reorganization of South Africa&apos;s governance, largely taking the form of decentralization wherein large cities attempt to attain significantly more autonomy vis-a-vis the central state. Nevertheless, as the crisis engenders movements and counter-movements, renewal is likely to be a protracted, and contested, process.

Druh

J_imp - Článek v periodiku v databázi Web of Science

CEP obor

—

OECD FORD obor

50701 - Cultural and economic geography

Projekt

—

Návaznosti

V - Vyzkumna aktivita podporovana z jinych verejnych zdroju

Rok uplatnění

2025

Kód důvěrnosti údajů

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Název periodika

Environment and Planning D: Society and Space

ISSN

0263-7758

e-ISSN

1472-3433

Svazek periodika

43

Číslo periodika v rámci svazku

4

Stát vydavatele periodika

GB - Spojené království Velké Británie a Severního Irska

Počet stran výsledku

19

Strana od-do

598-616

Kód UT WoS článku

001205136600001

EID výsledku v databázi Scopus

2-s2.0-85190757906