Synopsis
In the Enlightenment tradition, rationality is considered well-defined, independent of context; we know what rationality is, and its meaning is constant across time and space. However, Bent Flyvbjerg argues that rationality is context-dependent and that the crucial context is determined by decision-makers' political power. Flyvbjerg takes us behind the scenes to uncover the real politics - and real rationality - of public administration and planning in an internationally acclaimed project for environmental improvement in the Danish city of Aalborg. The result is a narrative that is both concrete and general, current and timeless. Drawing on the ideas of Machiavelli, Nietzsche, Habermas, and Foucault, Flyvbjerg reads the Aalborg case as a metaphor of modernity and of modern politics. Flyvbjerg shows how power actually distorted policy deliberation over a policy aimed at, among other things, reducing auto traffic in downtown Aalborg. He demonstrates how modern "rationality" can only be an ideal when confronted with the real rationalities involved in decision-making by administrators and policy makers. Flyvbjerg then elaborates on how this problem can be avoided so that fruitful deliberation and action can occur.
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Présentation de l'éditeur
"It's like the story of Little Town," an influential actor says in Rationality and Power when choosing a metaphor to describe how he manipulated rationality to gain power, "The bell ringer . . . has to set the church clock. So he calls the telephone exchange and asks what time it is, and the telephone operator looks out the window towards the church clock and says, 'It's five o'clock.' 'Good,' says the bell ringer, 'then my clock is correct.'"
In the Enlightenment tradition, rationality is considered well-defined, independent of context; we know what rationality is, and its meaning is constant across time and space. Bent Flyvbjerg shows that rationality is context-dependent and that the crucial context is determined by decision-makers' power. Power blurs the dividing line between rationality and rationalization. The result is a rationality that is often as imaginary as the time in Little Town, yet with very real social and environmental consequences.
Flyvbjerg takes us behind the scenes to uncover the real politics—and real rationality—of policy-making, administration, and planning in an internationally acclaimed project for environmental improvement, auto traffic reduction, land use, and urban renewal. The action takes place in the Danish city of Aalborg, but it could be anywhere. Aalborg is to Flyvbjerg what Florence was to Machiavelli: a laboratory for understanding power and what it means for our more general concerns of social and political organization. Policy-making, administration, and planning are examined in ways that allow a rare, in-depth understanding.
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