Strategies of the EU in the global competition for economic expansion and geoeconomic control
As the material basis of globalization, infrastructures are technically vulnerable and politically contested. Their vulnerability is particularly evident in crises such as the global financial crisis or the COVID-19 pandemic, in which transnational capital flows and value chains collapse. Political conflicts over infrastructure unfold in the current new triad competition between the USA, China and the EU. Here, infrastructures are being used to achieve geoeconomic and geopolitical goals, for example through large-scale initiatives such as the Belt and Road Initiative (China) or Global Gateway (EU). Various disciplines are increasingly focusing their attention on infrastructures as part of an 'infrastructural turn'. This research project contributes to this debate by examining the role and influence of the EU in the global competition for infrastructures. The starting point is the observation that the EU is reorienting its infrastructure policy more strongly outwards and by aiming to control globalization-relevant infrastructures.
The project undertakes a comprehensive analysis of EU infrastructure policy that seeks to examine this reorientation process more closely and to find out why geoeconomic competition translates into diverging strategies in different infrastructure fields. This analysis is split up into case studies in three central infrastructure fields: Transportation, renewable energy and data communication. Three influencing factors are considered in particular: first, the specific geoeconomic competitive pressure in the policy fields; second, the competing design logics of the actors involved; and third, the EU internal constellation of national interests. The results of the case studies will then be compared in a structured manner.
The project aims to contribute to the International Political Economy debate by investigating the transformed, geoeconomically and geopolitically 'charged', mode of operation of infrastructures in the globalization process and by shedding light on the special role of the EU in infrastructure policy competition.
Editing Special Issue “Transnational infrastructures in geoeconomic competition” with journal Globalizations, forthcoming
Editing Special Issue “Kritik der Geoökonomie” with journal PROKLA. Zeitschrift für kritische Sozialwissenschaft, co-edited with Tobias Haas, Sandra Sieron, Jenny Simon, forthcoming.
International workshop: “Transnational infrastructures in geoeconomic competition”, 27-28 March 2025, Tübingen.
Organisation of dual panel on "Global crisis dynamics and infrastructure policy". 29. Wissenschaftlicher Kongress der Deutschen Vereinigung für Politikwissenschaft (DVPW), 26 September 2024, Göttingen.
Abels, Joscha (2026): Privatised technological sovereignty. The IRIS² space project and state-capital relations in the European Union. Journal of European Public Policy, online first. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2025.2608178
Abels, Joscha; Babic, Milan (2026): Cable wars? Mapping the political economy of submarine cables in an era of geoeconomic competition. Globalizations, online first. https://doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2025.2599691
Abels, Joscha (2026): Private network realignment. State strategies versus market-driven globalization in the subsea cable network. Global Policy 17 (1). https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.70118
Abels, Joscha (2025): Making 'strategic autonomy' rhyme with 'fiscal austerity'? Unresolved conflicts of (geo)economic ideas in EU infrastructure policy. Competition & Change 29 (2), https://doi.org/10.1177/10245294241277255
Abels, Joscha (2025): “Outer space infrastructures and global order: How the control over satellite constellations reshapes state-business relations”, in: Bieling, Diez, Flemmer, Futterer (eds.): Transnational Infrastructures and the Transformation of Global Orders, SpringerVS, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-74846-2_12
Bieling, Hans-Jürgen (2025): “Infrastructure conflicts in a new geoeconomic order: A political economy perspective”, in: Bieling, Diez, Flemmer, Futterer (eds.): Transnational Infrastructures and the Transformation of Global Orders, SpringerVS, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-74846-2_4
Abels, Joscha (2024): Private infrastructure in geopolitical conflicts: The case of Starlink and the war in Ukraine. European Journal of International Relations 30 (4), https://doi.org/10.1177/13540661241260653
Abels, Joscha; Bieling, Hans-Jürgen (2024): Drivers and limits of the geoeconomic turn in EU infrastructure policy. Politics and Governance 12, https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.8127
Abels, Joscha; Bieling, Hans-Jürgen (2024): The geoeconomics of infrastructures: Viewing globalization and global rivalry through a lens of infrastructural competition. Globalizations 21 (4), https://doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2023.2264667
Ruck, Jan (2024): A geoeconomic fix? European industrial policy on semiconductors amidst global competition. Journal of Common Market Studies, online first, https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.13710
Bieling, Hans-Jürgen (2024): “Die kriseninduzierte Reorganisation der europäischen Gesellschaftsformation: Im Übergang zu einem staatsinterventionistischen Regulationsmodus”, in: Schneider, Syrovatka (eds.): Politische Ökonomie der „Zeitenwende“, Münster: Westfälisches Dampfboot, Link
Bieling, Hans-Jürgen (2024): “Die EU in der neuen globalen Geoökonomie. Zum Charakter des neuen europäischen Staatsinterventionismus”; in: Sablowski, Wahl (eds.): Europäische Integration in der multiplen Krise, Hamburg: VSA, Link
Abels, Joscha; Bieling, Hans-Jürgen (2023): Infrastructures of globalisation. Shifts in global order and Europe’s strategic choices. Competition & Change 27 (3-4), https://doi.org/10.1177/10245294221130119
Previous publications leading up to the project
Bieling, Hans-Jürgen; Diez, Thomas; Flemmer, Riccarda; Futterer, Andrea (eds.) (2025): Transnational Infrastructures and the Transformation of Global Orders. Wiesbaden: SpringerVS.
Bieling, Hans-Jürgen; Diez, Thomas; Flemmer, Riccarda; Futterer, Andrea (2025): “Introduction: Transnational infrastructures and global order(s)”, in: Bieling, Diez, Flemmer, Futterer (eds.): Transnational Infrastructures and the Transformation of Global Orders, SpringerVS, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-74846-2_1
Abels, Joscha (2024): Does the current crisis mark the end of the EU’s austerity era? Competing political projects in European fiscal governance. Comparative European Politics 22, https://doi.org/10.1057/s41295-023-00346-4
Abels, Joscha; Bieling, Hans-Jürgen; Kassem, Sarrah (2024): Re-regulating the European high-tech capitalism? The EU’s digitalization strategy at a turning point after the COVID-19 pandemic. In: Janusch et al. (eds.): Turning Points. Challenges for Western Democracies in the 21st Century, De Gruyter, https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111272900-015
Bieling, Hans-Jürgen (2023): Die EU – eine geostrategische Macht im Werden? Strategien und Initiativen zur Kontrolle transnationaler Wertschöpfungsketten. WSI Mitteilungen 76 (6), https://doi.org/10.5771/0342-300X-2023-6-415
Abels, Joscha; Bieling, Hans-Jürgen (2022): Jenseits des Marktliberalismus? Europäische Industrie- und Infrastrukturpolitik im Zeichen neuer globaler Rivalitäten. PROKLA. Zeitschrift für kritische Sozialwissenschaft 52 (3), https://doi.org/10.32387/prokla.v52i208.2004
Abels, Joscha (2022): Globaler Wettbewerb um Infrastrukturen. Eine neue Form der Geopolitik? POLITIKUM 8 (2), Link
Bieling, Hans-Jürgen (2022): Die Europäische Union im Zeitalter der neuen Geopolitik. Das Argument 338, Link
Bieling, Hans-Jürgen (2019): Globalisierungskonflikte. Die strategische Positionierung und Rolle der EU in der neuen Triade-Konkurrenz. PROKLA. Zeitschrift für kritische Sozialwissenschaft 49 (1), https://doi.org/10.32387/prokla.v49i194.1769
Bieling, Hans-Jürgen (2018): Jenseits der (neo-)liberal-kosmopolitischen Hegemonie? Die “Doppelkrise” der transatlantischen Globalisierungspolitik. Zeitschrift für Internationale Beziehungen 25 (2), https://doi.org/10.5771/0946-7165-2018-2-164
Media appearances
Joscha Abels has written an article for The Conversation: “In the sky over Iran, Elon Musk and Starlink step into geopolitics – not for the first time”, 26 June 2025, Link
Joscha Abels was featured in an article by Le Monde: “Avec Starlink, Elon Musk étend son influence sur la planète… et dans l’espace”, 6 April 2025, Link
Joscha Abels was invited to a talk by Network 20/20: “Undersea Cables & Starlink: The Hidden Conflicts of Global Connectivity”, 25 March 2025, Link
Joscha Abels was interviewed for a TV report by Al Jazeera English: “Starlink is revolutionary tech, but there are red flags”, 25 December 2024, Link
Presentations
Joscha Abels (2026): “Corporate geoeconomics in Biotech. Firms and the shaping of technonationalism in the European Union.” PÖ-Sektionstagung der DVPW (Deutsche Vereinigung für Politikwissenschaft), September 2026, Berlin (with Jaša Veselinovič).
Joscha Abels (2026): Organization of two panels on “The EU in the geoeconomic age.” PÖ-Sektionstagung der DVPW (Deutsche Vereinigung für Politikwissenschaft), September 2026, Berlin (with Jaša Veselinovič).
Joscha Abels (2026): Organization of roundtable on “Researching corporate power in an age of geoeconomics. From theory to application.” Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE) 2026 Conference, July 2026, Bordeaux (with Milan Babic).
Joscha Abels (2026): “The political economy of tech oligarchy. Technological capital and infrastructural power in the cloud and AI-defense.” Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE) 2026 Conference, July 2026, Bordeaux (with Silvia Weko).
Joscha Abels (2026): Organization of two panels on “The global politics of Big Tech.” Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE) 2026 Conference, July 2026, Bordeaux (with Guillaume Beaumier, Steven Rolf and Silvia Weko).
Joscha Abels (2026): “Privatized technological sovereignty. The IRIS² space project and state-capital relations in the European Union.” Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE) 2026 Conference, July 2026, Bordeaux.
Jan Ruck, Joscha Abels, Mario Meyer (2026): “European integration as network contestation. The geopolitics of electricity grid (de-)synchronization in Eastern Europe and the Baltics.” Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE) 2026 Conference, July 2026, Bordeaux.
Joscha Abels (2026): “Corporate geoeconomics in Biotech. Firms and the shaping of technonationalism in the European Union.” Workshop: Capital, Values, and Strategic Autonomy. Business–State Relations in Europe’s Zeitenwende, June 2026, Greifswald (with Jaša Veselinovič).
Joscha Abels (2026): Guest speaker at Loughborough University London. Workshop: Geoconnective Powers. May 2026, online.
Joscha Abels (2026): Guest speaker at Global Development Institute (GDI) Manchester “Geoeconomic competition and the transformation of corporate-state relations.” April 2026, Manchester.
Jan Ruck, Joscha Abels, Mario Meyer (2026): “European integration as network contestation. The geopolitics of electricity grid (de-)synchronization in Eastern Europe and the Baltics.” Workshop Europäische Wirtschafts- und Sozialintegration 2026, March 2026, Berlin (with Jan Ruck and Mario Meyer).
Joscha Abels, Silvia Weko (2025): “The iron law of tech oligarchy: Technological capital and infrastructural power in the cloud and AI-defense sector.”, PlatGovNet 2025 conference, November 2025, online.
Joscha Abels (2025): Guest Speaker at Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies (MPIfG), “Technological sovereignty and the politics of financial de-risking.” Workshop: From Austerity to Expansion? Rethinking Fiscal Policy in an Age of Crisis, November 2025, Cologne.
Jan Ruck, Joscha Abels, Mario Meyer (2025): “Grids of power: The contested spatiality of electricity grid (de-)synchronization in Eastern Europe and the Baltics”, Second Nordic Association for European Studies Conference 2025, 27-28 November 2025, Roskilde.
Hans-Jürgen Bieling (2025): Guest Speaker at Forum Offene Wissenschaft, University of Bielefeld, “Transnationale Infrastrukturen und globale Ordnungen”, 10 November 2025, Bielefeld.
Joscha Abels (2025): “Great power rivalry through networks. The case of submarine cables”, Conference of the DVPW Section Political Economy, 18 September 2025, Mainz.
Hans-Jürgen Bieling (2025): “Der neue Staatsinterventionismus in der Europäischen Union”, Assoziation für kritische Gesellschaftsforschung, 10 September 2025, online.
Jan Ruck, Hans-Jürgen Bieling (2025): “Renewable energy as “freedom energy”? De-risking of European energy infrastructure in geoeconomic competition”, Conference of the DVPW Section Political Economy, 18 September 2025, Mainz.
Jan Ruck, Hans-Jürgen Bieling (2025): “De-risking of European energy infrastructure in geoeconomic competition”, 18th Pan-European Conference on International Relations of the European International Studies Association (EISA), 28 August, Bologna.
Joscha Abels, Jan Ruck, Silvia Weko (2025): “The hydrogen reset? The materiality and geography of the European Union’s energy diplomacy”, 18th Pan-European Conference on International Relations of the European International Studies Association (EISA), 28 August, Bologna.
Hans-Jürgen Bieling, Chiara Mattioli (2025): “Infrastructural Power and the State in the Age of Geoeconomic competition”, 18th Pan-European Conference on International Relations of the European International Studies Association (EISA), 27 August, Bologna.
Joscha Abels (2025): Guest Speaker at UC Berkeley, “5 lessons on geopolitics/geoeconomics & digital infrastructures”, Global Digital Infrastructure certification program, 13 August 2025, online.
Jan Ruck, Hans-Jürgen Bieling (2025): “Renewable energy as “freedom energy”? De-risking of European energy infrastructure in geoeconomic competition”, Politicologenetmaal 2025, 12 June, Groningen.
Hans-Jürgen Bieling (2025): Guest Speaker at University of Bonn, “Transnational infrastructures in geoeconomic competition”, 12 May 2025, Bonn.
Joscha Abels (2025): “Big Tech in the US: Toward modern oligarchy?”, Debatte unter der Linde, 6 May 2025, Tübingen.
Joscha Abels, Milan Babic (2025): “Cable wars: The political economy of submarine cables in an era of geoeconomic competition”, Workshop on Transnational Infrastructures in Geoeconomic Competition, 27 March 2025, Tübingen.
Jan Ruck, Hans-Jürgen Bieling (2025): “Renewable energy as “freedom energy”? De-risking of European energy infrastructure in geoeconomic competition”, Workshop on Transnational Infrastructures in Geoeconomic Competition, 27 March 2025, Tübingen.
Joscha Abels (2025): “Infrastrukturen der Digitalisierung. Globale Konflikte um Unterseekabel und Satelliten”, Workshop Umkämpfter digitaler Kapitalismus: Neofeudalismus, Geopolitik und soziale Konflikte, 13 March 2025, Jena.
Joscha Abels (2025): “Private infrastructure in geopolitical conflicts. The case of Starlink and the war in Ukraine”, 66th Annual Convention of the International Studies Association (ISA), 3 March 2025, Chicago, USA.
Hans-Jürgen Bieling (2024): “Globale Umbrüche und transnationale Infrastrukturen”. Ambrosianum College, 22 October 2024, Tübingen
Joscha Abels, Hans-Jürgen Bieling, Jan Ruck (2024): “Rethinking EU infrastructure policy in a context of polycrisis”, 29. Wissenschaftlicher Kongress der Deutschen Vereinigung für Politikwissenschaft (DVPW), 26 September 2024, Göttingen.
Hans-Jürgen Bieling (2024): “Die kriseninduzierte Reorganisation der europäischen Gesellschaftsformation – im Übergang zu einem staatsinterventionistischen Regulationsmodus", 29. Wissenschaftlicher Kongress der Deutschen Vereinigung für Politikwissenschaft (DVPW), 25 September 2024, Göttingen.
Joscha Abels (2024): “Private infrastructure in geopolitical conflicts. The case of Starlink and the war in Ukraine”, 2024 Virtual Conference of the International Studies Association (ISA), 1 August 2024, online.
Joscha Abels (2024): "Making ‘strategic autonomy’ rhyme with ‘fiscal austerity’? Unresolved conflicts of (geo)economic ideas in EU infrastructure policy", 14th Annual Conference of the European Political Science Association (EPSA), 6 July 2024, Cologne.
Contact
University of Tübingen Research project "EUInfra - Infrastructures of globalization. Strategies of the EU in the global competition for economic expansion and geoeconomic control"
