Un enfoque socio-técnico en el análisis de políticas públicas: un estudio de caso

Abstract

In this article we use Actor-Network Theory (ANT) to contribute to ongoing debates in public policy. The subject of our investigation is the transformation of a certain ecological group (Salvem l’Empordà) as it joined the political scene and became a local spokesperson for the area, and how it now contributes to the development of regional planning. ANT provides an alternative analysis, along the lines of heterogeneous engineering. This gives new insights into the social; into action, agency, power, context and the role of objects and networks. The analysis reveals that Salvem l’Empordà’s existence, and its participation in public policy, depends on the relations that it is able to build, and on the consequent chain of influences that these relations then allow. The result is a heterogeneous assembly of elements, in which materiality plays a decisive role.