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Paper short abstract

By examining the sociotechnical imaginaries surrounding Esrange Space Centre in Sweden, the thesis offers insights into how ideas about “greener”, more secure space-enabled futures are increasingly reinforced through EU discourses, entwining space infrastructure with green capitalist dynamics.

Paper long abstract

Employing a political ecology framework, this thesis explores Esrange Space Centre in the Swedish High North as a case for broader sociopolitical dynamics in which space infrastructure is increasingly intertwined with green transition and securitisation discourses. Through a Critical Discourse Analysis of three documents, informed by the concepts of capitalist catastrophism and sociotechnical imaginaries, this work sheds light on the sociotechnical imaginaries reflected in the discursive practices of Swedish institutions and the European Union. With that, it offers insights into the imagined, materialised, and contested visions of “greener”, more secure space-enabled futures. Further, it seeks to answer how these imaginaries may reinforce capitalist and colonial dynamics, foreclosing alternative future trajectories that are more socially and environmentally just. The imaginaries identified and analysed are “Space as an inevitable techno-fix for global challenges”, “Space as a commercial asset driving sustainability within a capitalist growth paradigm”, “Space as a realm and instrument for securing geopolitical power and military dominance” and “Peripheries as spaces inviting exploitation and marginalisation in the name of progress”. Arguing that space imaginaries work to legitimise dynamics of capital accumulation and colonial injustices, this research stresses the need to interrogate the naturalisation of techno-optimist discourses, calling for the inclusion of marginalised voices in development discourses.

Keywords: space infrastructure, green capitalism, sociotechnical imaginaries, Esrange Space Centre, Critical Discourse Analysis