Infrastructural gap Commons, state and anthropology Dimitris Dalakoglou An infrastructural gap (IG) emerged after the outbreak of the crisis in 2008 and it refers to the difficulty of the state and the private sector in sustaining the level of infrastructural net- works in the Western world. Yet, infrastructures comprise the realm where the state or the market materialize a great proportion of the social contract. Citizens therefore often experi- ence IG as a challenge of the entire political paradigm. Nevertheless, as research in the country that is at the center of the current euro-crisis—Greece—records, we have novel and innovative forms of civil activity focused on the IG. Such activity, applying principles of self-organization and peer-to-peer relationships, along with practices of social solidarity and ideals of commons, attempts to address IG in innovative ways. However, such practices call for theoretical and empirical innovations as well, in order to overcome the social sciences’ traditional understandings of infrastructures. This paper—based on the inaugural professorial lecture I gave in acceptance of the Chair in Social Anthropology at the Vrije University Amsterdam—seeks to initiate a framework for understanding this shift in the paradigm of infrastructures’ governance and function, along with the newly emerging infra- structural turn in socio-cultural anthropology. Key words: infrastructures, state, commons, anthropology, Greece Infrastructural gap and the (too) invisible hand of the market B etween 2006 and 2013 alone, Euro- pean infrastructure companies’ activities decreased by 80% (Linklat- ters 2014). The International Energy Agency has warned that even the Euro- pean Union’s (EU) energy security is under threat unless there are investments in the infrastructures (IEA 2014). Articles in the Press (Authers 2015) use terms such as ‘infrastructural gap’ (IG) for the 40% investment shortfall on infrastructure development in G20 countries. Similarly, the World Economic Forum also warned about the IG (WEF 2014). In 2015, the European Commission (EC) responded to these challenges with the new strategic investment plan that has infrastructures investment as its first priority. However, it was made clear in all related documents that the EC is unable to fully finance it and needs the private sector’s contribution (EIB 2015). But the market does not seem eager to get involved: the EU was por- trayed as an unattractive destination for private investment in infrastructures by the authoritative Global Infrastructure Investment Index (ARCADIS 2014). Mean- while, an EU member country (Greece) lies at the bottom of the Index. # 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group CITY , 2016 VOL. 20, NO. 6, 822 – 831, https://doi.org/10.1080/13604813.2016.1241524