Infrastructures of Power: Energy, Nationalism, and the Consolidation of Authoritarian Rule

Author: Tahara Reinherz

Field of Study: Undeclared

Program Affiliation: Source Project Research Program

Faculty Mentors: Matthew Cole

Easel: 82

Timeslot: Afternoon

Abstract: Modern authoritarianism increasingly weaponizes energy infrastructure, both fossil fuels and renewables, to consolidate power and enforce traditionalist social orders. This research examines how regimes in the US, Brazil, Russia, Turkey, and India mobilize nationalist, gendered narratives like petro-masculinity (sociopolitical identity that links fossil fuel consumption and climate denial with traditional, patriarchal authority). By combining political economy with comparative case analysis, this study shows how large-scale energy projects function as infrastructures of control that centralize state authority. These projects systematically dispossess marginalized communities, turning the physical energy grid into a tool for political dominance. Findings reveal that large-scale energy projects function as infrastructures of control that centralize state authority while systematically dispossessing marginalized communities. Ultimately, the study reveals that green energy is not inherently democratic, as authoritarian regimes refashion energy governance into a tool for state control, framing ecological resistance as a direct threat to national identity.