Political decision-making

What is it about?

Observers of Western society have long enquired into the human desire to control the external world. According to some, such a desire is essentially a ‘will to more power’ by which, in the era of modern technology, humankind becomes the object of its own domination (Heidegger 1977). Max Weber’s observation on industrial capitalism (1949) has exposed the tendency to establish a ‘technically rational control’ not only over nature but also over social and political processes. This chapter draws on participant observation and case material from Brindisi, on the southeast coast of Apulia, to examine the policies and discourses of ‘professional politicians’ and environmental protest groups, in relation to the construction of a power station in the 1980s.1 I examine the formation and political significance of the protest, taking into account the relationship between structure, political action and the values and ideals related to such action (Leach 1964). Not only have the protest groups questioned capitalistic values; they have also brought to a head a widespread dissatisfaction with decision-makers riding roughshod over local affairs, raising moral and political issues about the Italian political system and its form of representation.

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