16
1
We would argue that all the three dimensions should be present to make it
meaningful to use the term power. Nevertheless, we would not require that an actor
gets a result in total coherence with intentions in order to consider it an exercise of
power. In most situations, several actors are involved in trying to obtain results of
different kinds, but they succeed to varying degrees.
Both the second and third main power perspectives in political ecology are
structure-oriented. As outlined in the previous subchapter, social structures delimit
actors’ possible actions, and at the same time, they make action possible.
The second perspective is about economic structures and grounded in a Marxist
tradition of political economy (see 7 Chap. 2), with emphasize on power in the
global capitalistic system. Capitalists have power first of all because they own
means of production. Workers may obtain power through organizing themselves
in trade unions, and thereby conduct negotiations together and chose to strike in
order to improve working conditions and salary. However, since production takes
place in different parts of the world, there are many hindrances against such organization. If workers lay down work in a mine owned by an international mining
corporation, the company might close down the mine and instead conduct their
activities in countries without strong trade unions.
In specific conflicts on natural resources, economic structures will constitute
important frameworks for what is possible and impossible to do for various groups
of actors. Often local conflicts are tied to larger questions about the organization
of the economy, where some of the involved groups engage in attempts to influence
these structures. A company may, for example, try to influence a national state and
politicians to change laws in order for them to usurp land for establishing plantations.
The third main perspective on power is about social structures, and this perspective is associated with the constructivist tradition. This is power exercised by
getting others to adopt a way of thinking that is favourable for what they consider
‘their own interests’. The sociologist Steven Lukes (2005) provides a variation of
such a power theory in what he calls a three-dimensional power perspective. An
example of the third dimension is when one actor gets other actors to do something they would otherwise not do, by influencing their wishes. For a government,
for instance, this could take place through control of information via media and
education, so that people could only get access to presentations of issues and cases
decided by the government.
Antonio Gramsci and Michel Foucault are both important sources of inspiration for power perspectives in political ecology. Gramsci (1932/1975) was an Italian
Marxist who in the 1920s and 1930s was a prisoner in Mussolini’s fascist state. In
his prisoner’s notes, Gramsci wrote about how ideas and world views by workers
and other ordinary people often were in line with the interests of the rulers. For
most people, the rulers’ perspectives seemed to be the only possible ways of perceiving reality.
Foucault has provided ideas about how the production of perceptions on reality among rulers and the state apparatus influence reality. He has distinguished
between four ways of governing – governmentalities – ways that state authorities in
Chapter 1 · Political Ecology on Pandora
1
We would argue that all the three dimensions should be present to make it
meaningful to use the term power. Nevertheless, we would not require that an actor
gets a result in total coherence with intentions in order to consider it an exercise of
power. In most situations, several actors are involved in trying to obtain results of
different kinds, but they succeed to varying degrees.
Both the second and third main power perspectives in political ecology are
structure-oriented. As outlined in the previous subchapter, social structures delimit
actors’ possible actions, and at the same time, they make action possible.
The second perspective is about economic structures and grounded in a Marxist
tradition of political economy (see 7 Chap. 2), with emphasize on power in the
global capitalistic system. Capitalists have power first of all because they own
means of production. Workers may obtain power through organizing themselves
in trade unions, and thereby conduct negotiations together and chose to strike in
order to improve working conditions and salary. However, since production takes
place in different parts of the world, there are many hindrances against such organization. If workers lay down work in a mine owned by an international mining
corporation, the company might close down the mine and instead conduct their
activities in countries without strong trade unions.
In specific conflicts on natural resources, economic structures will constitute
important frameworks for what is possible and impossible to do for various groups
of actors. Often local conflicts are tied to larger questions about the organization
of the economy, where some of the involved groups engage in attempts to influence
these structures. A company may, for example, try to influence a national state and
politicians to change laws in order for them to usurp land for establishing plantations.
The third main perspective on power is about social structures, and this perspective is associated with the constructivist tradition. This is power exercised by
getting others to adopt a way of thinking that is favourable for what they consider
‘their own interests’. The sociologist Steven Lukes (2005) provides a variation of
such a power theory in what he calls a three-dimensional power perspective. An
example of the third dimension is when one actor gets other actors to do something they would otherwise not do, by influencing their wishes. For a government,
for instance, this could take place through control of information via media and
education, so that people could only get access to presentations of issues and cases
decided by the government.
Antonio Gramsci and Michel Foucault are both important sources of inspiration for power perspectives in political ecology. Gramsci (1932/1975) was an Italian
Marxist who in the 1920s and 1930s was a prisoner in Mussolini’s fascist state. In
his prisoner’s notes, Gramsci wrote about how ideas and world views by workers
and other ordinary people often were in line with the interests of the rulers. For
most people, the rulers’ perspectives seemed to be the only possible ways of perceiving reality.
Foucault has provided ideas about how the production of perceptions on reality among rulers and the state apparatus influence reality. He has distinguished
between four ways of governing – governmentalities – ways that state authorities in
Chapter 1 · Political Ecology on Pandora