Infrastructure as a Trump Card: Global Public Law and the Centrality of Infrastructure Development in Public Policy Debates

Global, national and local politics have been subject, lately, to a “turn to infrastructure”. Irrespective of their place in the political spectrum (from ‘the border wall’ to ‘the green new deal’) and of the particular situation of their societies (from the U.S. and China to the third world), everyone insists on the urgent need of new infrastructures to secure prosperity. Taking the development of Argentina’s public-private partnerships (PPP) regime as an example, this presentation explores the role of global public law in establishing infrastructure development as a trump card in public policy debates, taking primacy over other ideals, such as “rights” or “democracy”.