ABSTRACT
Regarding our main hypothesis, the mobilization against the MOSE project – a system of mobile gates intended to protect the Venetian lagoon from the exceptional high tides of the Adriatic Sea – can be considered a negative case, or a case of unaccomplished technical democracy. Here, expertise was confined to an enclosed arena composed of professional politicians – either institutional representatives or long-term activists – and professional experts. The MOSE has had a huge influence on the Italian debate on infrastructure since the 1990s. Its technological majesty and complexity have given rise to much controversy about its utility and its hazards, involving the main political actors at both local and national levels. Even though so much attention has been catalyzed, local movements and civil society actors have encountered great difficulties in opening a debate characterized by high cognitive demands and opaque political procedures. Although the critical actors mobilizing within Venetian civil society are highly resourced in terms of expertise, social capital and political alliances at the local level, they have faced huge problems cultivating a broader consensus among local citizens and in influencing the debate. A strategic use of technological opacity has inhibited the spread of collective action and favored a specific political enclosure.
