Chinese investments as part of infrastructure-led development: multi-scalar contestations around Georgia’s flagship infrastructure projects

Abstract

Drawing on an analysis of major infrastructure projects in Georgia, we propose a reconceptualization of infrastructure-led development as constituted by multi-scalar contestations. We illustrate that actors associated with different great powers more often pursue similar rather than significantly different strategies and tend to collaborate when financing and developing particular infrastructure projects. We find that hegemonic rivalry is either similarly important or at points even less significant than contestations at other scales in defining the fate of infrastructure projects. We suggest that environmental and class struggles should be considered as integral to the analysis and theorization of infrastructure-led development.