基礎設施是建造國家的機制，發揮協調國家、社會和自然之間關係的作用。國家並非已完成的法理主權實體，而是必須以發展計劃及基礎設施爲媒介，持續建造和維護國家以確保正當性。本文回溯日本殖民迄今四個階段國家建造的基礎設施部署：(1)日殖體制將台灣轉變爲商品化農業基地及大東亞共榮圈南進基地，以現代基礎建設調動自然資源，建立統治的物質部署和正當性。(2)美援規劃體制在冷戰格局及威權侍從體制下，以基礎設施物質化了自由中國的宣告。(3)1970年代至1980年代，十大建設及十二項建設爲代表的基礎設施升級，迎合加工出口經濟的快速增長，彌補中華國族的正當性缺損。(4)1990年代以降，面臨中國與東南亞後進工業化追趕、全球資本主義競爭及台灣本土化與民主化趨勢，經建計畫強調產業轉型、區域競爭、數位建設、社會福祉、民間參與、地方分權、生態現代化及文化治理等課題，呈現多層次的基礎設施中介之國家、社會與自然關係。然而，2000年以後，前瞻性競爭轉化爲治理困局下的應付型競爭，基礎設施部署的内蘊危機則映照出國家的正當性難題。

Infrastructure is a mechanism for state-building. It is an interface negotiating the relationships among state, society, and nature. The state in this sense is not an accomplished legal sovereign entity, but rather has to maintain its legitimacy by continuously constructing and maintaining itself through developmental projects and infrastructure. This paper reviews the four stages of state-building through infrastructurization in Taiwan:⑴ The Japanese colonial regime built modern infrastructure to facilitate its exploitation of natural resources and to ensure material deployment and the legitimacy of its rule. (2) US aid during the Cold War and authoritarian clientelist period aimed to substantiate America’s declaration of a Free China through materialization of infrastructure. (3) From the 1970s to 1980s, a period of surging economic growth facilitated by export processing, the Ten Major Construction Projects and Twelve Construction Projects built up domestic infrastructure to compensate for weakening Chinese nationalism. (4) Since the 1990s, under competitive global capitalism and the trends of indigenization and democratization, economic construction projects turned to emphasize industrial transformation, regional competition, digital infrastructure, social welfare, participation of civil society, decentralization of power, ecological modernization and cultural governance. However, after 2000, infrastructure construction to build future economic competitiveness was replaced by construction aimed at coping with governance dilemmas in infrastructure deployment, reflecting a legitimacy crisis in state-building.