ABSTRACT
Since the nineteenth century, electricity and its various infrastructures have proliferated to the point where they reach into every aspect of contemporary life. Electrification of transport and heating, for example, may generate forms of electricity dependence that would have been unimaginable just a short time ago. Electricity demands a unique kind of infrastructure: of networks, links and grids at contrasting scales and dimensions, requiring harmonization, surveillance, maintenance and management between states, geographical regions and commercial and public institutions and between citizens and economies of all kinds. Throughout much of the later twentieth century, Western electricity users have largely been able to access as much electricity as they can pay for. Electricity is so pervasive in the centres of power that access to electricity is promoted by international organizations such as the United Nations as a kind of human right, a basic essential for ‘civilized’ life. The chapter also presents an overview on the key concepts discussed in this book.
