Local Contention, Global Framing: the Protest Campaigns against the TAV in Val di Susa and the Bridge on the Messina Straits

Two cases of long-lasting environmental conflicts in Italy – one against theconstruction of a high-speed railway in Val di Susa, the other against the building of abridge across the Messina Straits – are analysed. Recent social scientific literature hasconsidered such conflicts as either Not in My Back Yard (NIMBY), egotistical and antimodernist,or as a progressive defence of the quality of life in a territory. A characteristicof both these strands of literature is to consider interests as exogenous. We concentrateinstead on the definition of the identity of the protestors, the stakes of the conflict, and thesolutions to them as they emerge through cognitive conflicts