GOVT 86.55 Building Big Things: The Politics of Infrastructure

Modern life requires Big Things: Roads, railways, sewers, housing, power plants, digital platforms, dams, and the like. This course investigates the theory and practice of infrastructure. It takes up questions such as: Are democracies worse than autocracies at building infrastructure? What role should the government have in building infrastructure? What big things do we want built? How do planning, permitting, financing, and building infrastructure relate to democratic values? Readings will be drawn from philosophy, political science, law, economics, and other cognate disciplines.

Degree Requirement Attributes

Dist:SOC

The Timetable of Class Meetings contains the most up-to-date information about a course. It includes not only the meeting time and instructor, but also its official distributive and/or world culture designation. This information supersedes any information you may see elsewhere, to include what may appear in this ORC/Catalog or on a department/program website. Note that course attributes may change term to term therefore those in effect are those (only) during the term in which you enroll in the course.

Department-Specific Course Categories

Government