Linköping University

Technopolitics - The Politics of Innovation, Media, Infrastructures and Climate change

The three specializations offered* by Linköping University during the Spring 2009 term are:

Social Perspectives on Technological Risk - Technology, Environment and Risk
Technopolitics - The Politics of Innovation, Media, Infrastructures and Climate change
Science, technology and gender: Medical Technologies of Sex and Gender

In addition, Linköping is offering two separate courses during the spring term called 'Thesis design' and 'Methods for the thesis' which will cover the basics of thesis writing (including formation of a thesis outline) and research methodology, respectively. These courses will run parallel to the specialization courses. They will be required for Linköping students and open (and recommended) to other ESST students studying in Linköping.

*Linköping reserves the right to withdraw a course offering if there are less than 5 students registered.

General description

There are many aspects on the relations between technology and politics. This course focuses on some of them. It is composed of four themes: Innovation policy, Media and the public sphere, Changing infrastructures and governance, Climate change and sustainability. The first concentrates on "systems of innovation" which is both a research and a policy field. Even though policies for the improvement of national competitiveness have a long history, the concept of innovation systems is quite new. What is it and what is new? The second deals with media, network externalities and the public sphere. Here we discuss democracy and formation of a public opinion in relation to technology's configuration and in relation to the content of what is communicated.
The third focuses on infrastructures in Europe. In relation to the European integration, infrastructure industries both push and are pulled in the direction of interconnection and cooperation. Another prominent aspect since the 1980's has been deregulation. Both aspects can be discussed in terms of "governance". The fourth theme concerns climate change and sustainability. Here we will discuss the prospects and limits of the technical solutions proposed, in a very concrete manner. This will be related to the over-arching question whether growth is compatible with sustainability or not.

Core literature (subject to change)

Bourdieu, Pierre (1998), On television and journalism. London: Pluto.
Castells, Manuel (2001), The Internet Galaxy - reflections on the Internet, business and society. Oxford: Oxford UP.
Daly, Herman E. (1999), Ecological Economics and the Ecology of Economics. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. (Part I, II and III).
Diamond, Jared (2006), Collapse: how societies choose to fail or survive. London: Penguin (Chapter 2).
Eklund, Magnus (2005), "Reception of the Innovation System Concept in Sweden". Paper presented at Ekonomisk-historiska mötet, Umeå, 7-9 October 2005 (16 p).
Ewertsson, Lena (2001), The Triumph of Technology Over Politics? Linköping Studies in Arts and Science 232. Linköping: Tema ( Part IV, pp 275-377).
Fiske, John (1990), Introduction to communication studies. 2nd edition. London: Routledge.
Freeman, Chris & Soete, Luc (1997), The Economics of Industrial Innovation. 3rd edition (Part 3 and 4, pp 289-434).
Habermas, Jürgen (1989 [1962]), The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere. Cambridge: Polity Press (Parts II, III, V, VI).
http://ipcc-wg1.ucar.edu/wg1/Report/AR4WG1_Print_SPM.pdf
http://www.ipcc.ch/SPM13apr07.pdf
http://www.ipcc.ch/SPM040507.pdf
IPCC (2007), Summary for policymakers (Working Group I, II and III)
Kaijser, Arne (1999), "The Helping Hand: In Search of a Swedish Institutional Regime for Infrastructural Systems", in Andersson-Skog, Lena & Krantz, Olle (eds) Institutions in the Transport and Communications Industries. Science History Publications ( Pp 223-244).
McKillop, A with Sheila Newman (2005) The Final Energy Crisis. London: Pluto Press (Chapters 1 and 2).
Monbiot, George (2007), Heat. How we can stop the planet burning. London: Penguin.
Page, William H. & John E. Lapotka: "Network externalities", from Encyclopedia of Law and Economics, <http://encyclo.findlaw.com> "read the E L E online", post n:o 0760.
Pierre, Jon & Peters, Guy (2000), Governance, politics and the state. Basingstoke: MacMillan.
Schumpeter, Joseph (1976 [1943]), Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy. London: George Allen & Unwin (Part II, pp 59-164).
Schumpeter, Joseph (1976 [1943]), Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy. London: George Allen & Unwin (Part IV, pp 232-302).
van der Vleuten, E. and Kaijser (2006) Networking Europe. Transnational Infrastructures and the Shaping of Europe. Sagamore Beach: Science History Publications (Pp 187- 278).
"US confirms belief in 'technical fix' to climate change", from SciDevNet, 24 February 2005.
http://www.scidev.net/News/index.cfm?fuseaction=readNews&itemid=1950&language=1

Language of instruction

English

Number of students

5-15

Examle of thesis topics

A thesis on the environment, sustainability, technical infrastructures, media and governance would be relevant.

Recommended courses to take

Students should take the courses 'Thesis design' and 'Methods for the thesis' offered by the department during the spring term.

Instructors

Mats Bladh

Exchange office information

www.liu.se/education/exchange/exchange

Coordinator

Mats Bladh matbl@tema.liu.se

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