War and infrastructure

• Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies
• GGP: Global Governance Programme

Join this workshop to discuss how infrastructure influences conflict, security, and peacebuilding dynamics.

This event aims to explore the critical role of infrastructure in shaping political, economic, and social dynamics within the context of war and conflict. The workshop will be guided by conceptualisations of infrastructure within International Relations, particularly viewing infrastructure as both an object of politics and as a force with agency.

Participants will discuss the impact of infrastructure on conflict and security, specifically how physical infrastructure—such as roads, ports, and energy networks—affects military operations and humanitarian efforts in conflict zones. The workshop will also consider the legal infrastructures created by conflict and how their contestations can become sources of future animosity.

The ultimate goal is to contribute meaningfully to the growing discourse on infrastructures and their productive power, especially within the field of peace studies. By focusing on infrastructures not merely as passive or static elements but as dynamic forces, this event seeks to reveal how they actively shape, enable, and sometimes constrain both conflict and peacebuilding processes.