Conflict and Local Mobilization : The Alta Hydropower Project 1

Abstract

The article presents and discusses attitudes to the Alta case among the local population. This hydropower project, which also raised the issue of Lappish minority rights, created one of the most dramatic political conflicts in Norway since World War II, also on the national level. The survey was done in the Winter 1980/81. This was just before one of the dramatic high points of the conflict the large police action involving about 10% of the total Norwegian police force The Alta case had developed into a symbol for conflicts over conservation that had developed since the late 1960s. The location of the project, in one of the core areas of Lappish settlement, created additional complications Our survey pictures a strongly polanzed society. The parties to the conflict not only disagreed on the local issue The intensity and escalation of the conflict led a large number of people to doubt the ability of national authorities to make right and just decisions. They also developed very different 'world pictures', cutting across traditional political cleavages.