Concrete Revolution: Large Dams, Cold War Geopolitics, and the US Bureau of Reclamation

Abstract

Christopher Sneddon’s book is about large dams. More specifically, he examines how technical expertise in the construction of large dams during the Cold War was tied to ideas about river basin development as a pathway to economic and social change. More broadly, Sneddon examines how the U.S. international geopolitical agenda during the Cold War integrated certain forms of expertise, valuation of river basins, and ideas about societal development. The United States promoted the construction of large dams and ideas about water resource management as a way to extend its political influence in countries of strategic importance in the competition to outpower the Soviet Union. Large dams, he argues, cannot be fully understood as a geopolitical phenomenon when viewed individually. Through the book, he makes the case that the large dams built with U.S. support in economically developing countries during the Cold War are best understood as part of the U.S. political agenda to gain influence in strategic areas, establish resource management practices aimed at modernizing river basins for economic development, and create economic opportunities for U.S. business interests. Sneddon’s book demonstrates two particularly innovative and useful contributions to geopolitical study. First, his work exemplifies critical geopolitical analysis of material discourse, and second, it illustrates the importance of the selective production and use of knowledge. (...) Christopher Sneddon. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2015. xii and 270 pp., photos, illustrations, notes, bibliography, index. $45.00 cloth (ISBN 9780226284316), $10.00 to $45.00 electronic (ISBN 9780226284453).