Silvast. Anticipating Interruptions - Security and Risk in a Liberalized Electricity Infrastructure.

Abstract

Book reviews 41 Paul Edwards, historian of technology, once wrote: “perhaps ‘infrastructure’ is best defined negatively, as those systems without which contemporary societies cannot function” (Edwards 2003, 187). Given such a pivotal but backstaged role in the technological machinery of modernity, Finnish sociologist Antti Silvast chose topic wisely for his dissertation Anticipating Interruptions Security and Risk in a Liberalized Electricity Infrastructure. The risk dynamics of infrastructure provision open up several possibly juicy empirics in a world of malfunctioning infrastructure systems where the task to make sure that things don’t malfunction, i.e. black out, is of course of significant strategic importance.