Mobilization Against Large Techno-Industrial Projects: A Comparative Perspective

In recent decades, large techno-industrial projects such as power stations, dams, and airports have been confronted with fierce opposition. Resistance against such projects, however, also occurred in earlier periods, though in different forms. This article overviews both historical and contemporary oppositional groups fighting against large projects. When looking at the long-term development over roughly a century, it becomes obvious that resistance against large projects has changed profoundly. In earlier periods, resistance occurred in relatively few cases, was mostly confined to small territories, included few people, and was generally moderate in its forms of action. In recent decades, another picture prevails. Resistance is nearly ubiquitous; it ranges from the local to the national and, sometimes, the international level; it can involve masses of people from very different social strata; it is based on a broad spectrum of mostly interlinked groups; and it may include disruptive and even violent forms of action. For several reasons related to the protesters themselves and their wider environment, efforts to prevent or reduce the negative impacts of large projects have changed greatly from the first half of the twentieth century.