Infrastructure projects are often tied to political agendas, leading to community skepticism and opposition. This study explores how changes in the political system influenced engagement between project opposers and project promoters. Using a qualitative research approach and a case study strategy, archival data related to the prematurely terminated Bisri Dam megaproject in Lebanon were collected and analyzed. Results show that deepened division among political parties (configuration of power) and a wider distribution of power among project opposers (formal institutional structure) intensified opposition, leading to project cancellation. This study highlights the importance of considering a broad political perspective in project stakeholder engagement to improve megaproject outcomes from a socially sustainable standpoint.
AaltonenK.DerakhshanR.Di MaddaloniF.TurnerR. (2024). Stakeholder engagement: Theoretical and methodological directions for project scholarship. International Journal of Project Management, 42(7), 102649.
2.
AaltonenK.JaakkoK.TuomasO. (2008). Stakeholder salience in global projects. International Journal of Project Management, 26(5), 509–516.
3.
Abdul-KareemH. I. (2020). Factors that influence the megaprojects in Iraq. IOP conference series. Materials Science and Engineering, 870(1), article12067.
AlvarezS. A.YoungS. L.WoolleyJ. L. (2020). Creating the world’s deadliest catch: The process of enrolling stakeholders in an uncertain endeavor. Business & Society, 59(2), 287–321.
8.
Asante BoadiE.HeZ.BosompemJ.SayJ.BoadiE. K.. (2019). Let the talk count: Attributes of stakeholder engagement, trust, perceive environmental protection and CSR. Sage Open, 9(1), 2158244019825920.
BaaijM.ReinmoellerP. (2018). Engaging critical stakeholders to support the strategy rocesses. Mapping a winning strategy: Developing and executing a successful strategy in turbulent markets (pp. 41–59). Emerald Publishing Limited, Bingley.
BellE.BrymanA.HarleyB. (2022). Business research methods. Oxford University Press.
13.
BiesenthalC.CleggS.MahalingamA.SankaranS. (2018). Applying institutional theories to managing megaprojects. International Journal of Project Management, 36(1), 43–54.
14.
BrockettC. D. (1991). The structure of political opportunities and peasant mobilization in Central America. Comparative Politics, 23(3), 253–274.
15.
BuchananD.BadhamR. (2020). Power, politics, and organizational change. Sage.
16.
BuiceM. (2022). Division at home, unity abroad? The impact of local and international dynamics on political opportunity structure in the Territorio Indígena y Parque Nacional Isiboro Secure Highway Conflict. Alternatives: Global, Local, Political, 47(3), 135–155.
17.
ChehayebK. (2020), Lebanon's Bisri Valley Dam faces uncertain future after funding halt. Middle East Eye.
18.
ChiM.ChongH.-Y.XuY. (2022). The effects of shared vision on value co-creation in megaprojects: A multigroup analysis between clients and main contractors. International Journal of Project Management, 40(3), 218–234.
19.
ÇıdıkM. S.Garfias RoyoM.MulliganJ.K'oyooA. O.ParikhP. (2024). Political ecology perspective for a new way of understanding stakeholders and value in infrastructure projects. International Journal of Project Management, 42(2), 102565.
20.
ClarksonM. E. (1995). A stakeholder framework for analyzing and evaluating corporate social performance. Academy of Management Review, 20(1), 92–117.
21.
CollisJ.HusseyR. (2009), Business research: A practical guide for undergraduate and postgraduate students. Palgrave Macmillan.
22.
CoppensT.Van DoorenW.ThijssenP. (2018). Public opposition and the neighborhood effect: How social interaction explains protest against a large infrastructure project. Land Use Policy, 79, issue C,633–640.
23.
CornelioJ. R. J.SainatiT.LocatelliG. (2021). What does it take to kill a megaproject? The reverse escalation of commitment. International Journal of Project Management, 39(7), 774–787.
24.
CornelioJ. R. J.SainatiT.LocatelliG. (2023). Digging in the megaproject's graveyard: Why do megaprojects die, and how to check their health?International Journal of Project Management, 41(6), 102501.
25.
CuganesanS.FlorisM. (2020). Investigating perspective taking when infrastructure megaproject teams engage local communities: Navigating tensions and balancing perspectives. International Journal of Project Management, 38(3), 153–164.
26.
DamoahI. S.AkweiC. A.AmoakoI. O.BotchieD. (2018). Corruption as a source of government project failure in developing countries: Evidence from Ghana. Project Management Journal, 9(3), 17–33.
27.
DearM. (1992). Understanding and overcoming the NIMBY syndrome. Journal of the American Planning Association, 58(3), 288–300.
28.
DeckerS. (2013). The silence of the archives: Business history, post-colonialism and archival ethnography. Management & Organizational History, 8(2), 155–173
29.
Della PortaD.DianiM. (2006). Social movements: an introduction. Blackwell Publishing.
30.
De NitoE.CaccialanzaA.CanonicoP.FavariE. (2024). Analyzing the role of social value in megaprojects: Toward a new performance framework. Measuring Business Excellence, 28(2), 243–254.
31.
DimN. U.EzeabasiliA. C. C. (2015). Strategic supply chain framework as an effective approach to procurement of public construction projects in Nigeria. International Journal of Management and Sustainability, 4(1), 163–172.
32.
Di MaddaloniF.DavisK. (2018). Project manager's perception of the local communities’ stakeholder in megaprojects. An empirical investigation in the UK. International Journal of Project Management, 36(3), 542–565.
33.
Di MaddaloniF.DerakhshanR. (2019). A leap from negative to positive bond. A step towards project sustainability. Administrative Sciences, 9(2), article 41.
34.
Di MaddaloniF.DerakhshanR. (2023). Stakeholders’ perception of organization: an attribution and fairness perspective. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 17(1), 27–49.
35.
Di MaddaloniF.MeiraL. H.de AndradeM. O.de MeloI. R.CastroA.LocatelliG. (2025). The dark legacy of megaprojects: A case of local disengagement, missed opportunities, and social value dissipation. International Journal of Project Management, 43(1), 102676.
36.
EisenhardtK. M. (1989). Building theories from case study research.The Academy of Management Review, 14(4), 532–550
37.
EisingerP. K. (1973). The conditions of protest behavior in American cities. The American Political Science Review, 67(1), 11–28.
38.
EjaK.RamegowdaM. (2020). Government project failure in developing countries: A review with particular reference to Nigeria. Global Journal of Social Sciences, 19(1), 35–47.
39.
EskerodP.HuemannM.RinghoferC. (2015). Stakeholder inclusiveness: Enriching project management with general stakeholder theory. Project Management Journal, 46(6), 42–53.
40.
EskerodP.VaagaasarA. L. (2014). Stakeholder management strategies and practices during a project course. Project Management Journal, 45(5), 71–85.
41.
FaresJ. (2023). A multi-level typology for stakeholder influence: A systematic literature review using the structural approach. European Management Journal, 42(4), 462–478.
42.
FaresJ. (2025). Modeling service organization integration: A social networks perspective. Management Research Review, 48(9), 1391–1404.
43.
FaresJ.ChungK. S. K.AbbasiA. (2021). Stakeholder theory and management: Understanding longitudinal collaboration networks. PLOS One, 16(10), e0255658
44.
FaresJ.SadakaS.El HokayemJ. (2022). Exploring entrepreneurship resilience capabilities during Armageddon: A qualitative study. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, 28(7), 1868–1898.
45.
GamsonW. A.MeyerD. S. (1996). Framing political opportunity. In McAdamD.McCarthyJ. D.ZaldM. N., (Eds.). Comparative perspectives on social movements: Political opportunities, mobilizing structures, and cultural framings (pp. 275–290). Cambridge University Press.
46.
GhariziO. (2022). Lebanon’s vote and the prospect of long-awaited political reform. United States Institude of Peace (USIP).
47.
GillettA. G.TennentK. D. (2017). Dynamic sublimes, changing plans, and the legacy of a megaproject: The case of the 1966 Soccer World Cup. Project Management Journal, 48(6), 93–116.
48.
GiugniM. (2011). Political opportunity: Still a useful concept? In HanaganM.TillyC. (Eds.), Contention and trust in cities and states (pp. 271–283). Springer.
GondJ. P.Barin CruzL.RauffletE.CharronM. (2016). To frack or not to frack? The interaction of justification and power in a sustainability controversy. Journal of Management Studies, 53(3), 330–363.
51.
HaddenJ.JasnyL. (2019). The power of peers: How transnational advocacy networks shape NGO strategies on climate change. British Journal of Political Science, 49(2), 637–659.
52.
JemineG.DuboisC.PichaultF. (2020). When the Gallic village strikes back: The politics behind ‘new ways of working’ projects. Journal of Change Management, 20(2), 146–170.
53.
KabahindaE.MwesigwaR. (2023). Trust mediates the relationship between stakeholder behavior and stakeholder management of public private partnership projects in Uganda. Public Organization Review, 23(1), 245–263.
54.
Kenney-LazarM.IshikawaN. (2019). Mega-plantations in Southeast Asia: Landscapes of displacement. Environment and Society, 10(1), 63–82.
55.
KitscheltH. P. (1986). Political opportunity structures and political protest: Anti-nuclear movements in four democracies. British Journal of Political Science, 16(1), 57–85.
KriesiH.BaglioniS. (2003). Putting local associations into their context: Preliminary results from a Swiss study of local associations. Swiss Political Science Review, 9(3), 1–34.
58.
KriesiH.KoopmansR.DuyvendakJ. W.GiugniM. G. (1992). New social movements and political opportunities in Western Europe. European Journal of Political Research, 22(2), 219–244.
59.
LangleyA. (1999). Strategies for theorizing from process data. Academy of Management Review, 24(4), 691–710.
60.
LeeC.WonJ. W.JangW.JungW.HanS. H.KwakY. H. (2017). Social conflict management framework for project viability: Case studies from Korean megaprojects. International Journal of Project Management, 35(8), 1683–1696.
LehtinenJ.AaltonenK.RajalaR. (2019). Stakeholder management in complex product systems: Practices and rationales for engagement and disengagement. Industrial Marketing Management, 79(1), 58–70.
63.
LehtinenJ.LocatelliG.SainatiT.ArttoK.EvansB. (2022). The grand challenge: Effective anti-corruption measures in projects. International Journal of Project Management, 40(4), 347–361.
64.
LiuZ.-Z.ZhuZ.-W.WangH.-J.HuangJ. (2016). Handling social risks in government-driven mega project: An empirical case study from West China. International Journal of Project Management, 34(2), 202–218.
65.
LocatelliG.MarianiG.SainatiT.GrecoM. (2017). Corruption in public projects and megaprojects: There is an elephant in the room!International Journal of Project Management, 35(3), 252–268.
66.
MacleanM.HarveyC.CleggS. R. (2016). Conceptualizing historical organization studies. Academy of Management Review, 41(4), 609–632.
67.
MarchJ. G. (2007). The study of organizations and organizing since 1945. Organization Studies, 28(1), 9–19.
68.
MatinheikkiJ.AaltonenK.WalkerD. (2019). Politics, public servants, and profits: Institutional complexity and temporary hybridization in a public infrastructure alliance project. International Journal of Project Management, 37(2), 298–317.
McgivernG.DopsonS.FerlieE.FischerM.FitzgeraldL.LedgerJ.BennettC. (2018). The silent politics of temporal work: A case study of a management consultancy project to redesign public health care. Organization Studies, 39(8), 1007–1030.
71.
MeyerD. S. (2004). Protest and political opportunities. Annual Review of Sociology, 30(1), 125–145.
72.
MinnaertL. (2012). An Olympic legacy for all? The non-infrastructural outcomes of the Olympic Games for socially excluded groups (Atlanta 1996–Beijing 2008). Tourism Management, 33(2), 361–370.
73.
MitlinD. (2006). The role of collective action and urban social movements in reducing chronic urban poverty. SSRN Electronic Journal, 64(1), 1–77.
74.
MitoulaR.PapavasileiouA. (2023). Mega infrastructure projects and their contribution to sustainable development: The case of the Athens Metro. Economic Change and Restructuring, 56(3), 1943–1969.
Müller-MahnD.MkutuK.KiokoE. (2021). Megaprojects—Mega failures? The politics of aspiration and the transformation of rural Kenya. The European Journal of Development Research, 33(1), 1069–1090.
77.
MynottJ. (Ed.) (2013). Thucydides: The war of the Peloponnesians and the Athenians. Cambridge University Press.
78.
NguyenT. H. D.ChilesheN.RameezdeenR.WoodA. (2019). External stakeholder strategic actions in projects: A multi-case study. International Journal of Project Management, 37(1), 176–191.
79.
NinanJ.MahalingamA.CleggS. (2019). External stakeholder management strategies and resources in megaprojects: An organizational power perspective. Project Management Journal, 50(6), 625–640.
80.
NinanJ.SergeevaN. (2021). Labyrinth of labels: Narrative constructions of promoters and protesters in megaprojects. International Journal of Project Management, 39(5), 496–506.
81.
NinanJ.SergeevaN. (2022). Mobilizing megaproject narratives for external stakeholders: A study of narrative instruments and processes. Project Management Journal, 53(5), 520–540.
82.
O’DohertyD.De CockC. (2024). Politics in organization studies: Multi-disciplinary traditions and interstitial positions. Organization Studies, 45(5), 745–766.
83.
PintoJ. K. (2000). Understanding the role of politics in successful project management. International Journal of Project Management, 18(2), 85–91.
84.
PrakashA.GugertyM. K. (2010). Advocacy organizations and collective action. Cambridge University Press.
85.
PullenA.RhodesC.ThanemT. (2017). Affective politics in gendered organizations: Affirmative notes on becoming-woman. Organization, 24(1), 105–123.
86.
RevellinoS.MouritsenJ. (2017). Knotting the net: From ‘design by deception’ to an object oriented politics. International Journal of Project Management, 35(3), 296–306.
87.
RothengatterW. (2019). Megaprojects in transportation networks. Transport Policy, 75(1), A1–A15.
88.
RuchtD. (1996), The impact of national contexts on social movement structures: A cross-movement and cross-national comparison. In McAdamD.McCarthyJ. D.ZaldM. N. (Eds.), Comparative perspectives on social movements: Political opportunities, mobilizing structures, and cultural framings (pp. 185–204). Cambridge University Press.
89.
RuijterH.van MarrewijkA.VeenswijkM.MerkusS. (2021). ‘Filling the mattress’: Trust development in the governance of infrastructure megaprojects. International Journal of Project Management, 39(4), 351–364.
90.
SawmaP. (2020). Lebanon: Will the Bisri Dam pass pver the bodies of protestors? Alarabiya - Daraj.
91.
SchadJ.LewisM. W.RaischS.SmithW. K. (2016). Paradox research in management science: Looking back to move forward. The Academy of Management Annals, 10(1), 5–64.
92.
Tarazona VentoA. (2024). Megaprojects in austerity times: Populism, politicisation, and the breaking of the neoliberal consensus. Urban Studies, 62(1), 92–108.
93.
TarrowS. (1989). Struggle, politics, and reform: Collective action, social movements, and cycles of protest. Western Societies Program. Cornell University Press.
94.
TarrowS. (1994). Social movements in Europe: Movement society or Europeanization of conflict?European University Institute.
95.
TarrowS. (2022). Power in movement. Cambridge University Press.
96.
TurnerJ. R.XueY. (2018). On the success of megaprojects. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 11(3), 783–805.
97.
van Den EndeL.van MarrewijkA. (2019). Teargas, taboo and transformation: A neo-institutional study of community resistance and the struggle to legitimize subway projects in Amsterdam 1960–2018. International Journal of Project Management, 37(2) 331–346.
98.
VentoA. T. (2017). Mega-project meltdown: Post-politics, neoliberal urban regeneration and Valencia's fiscal crisis. Urban Studies, 54(1), 68–84.
99.
WaltonD. (2014). Abductive reasoning. University of Alabama Press.
100.
Weissenberger-EiblM. A.TeufelB. (2011). Organizational politics in new product development project selection: A review of the current literature. European Journal of Innovation Management, 14(1) 51–73.
101.
WilliamsM. (2017). The political economy of unfinished development projects: Corruption, clientelism, or collective choice?American Political Science Review, 111(1), 1–19.
102.
WilliamsN. L.FerdinandN.PasianB. (2015). Online stakeholder interactions in the early stage of a megaproject. Project Management Journal, 46(6), 92–110.
103.
WitzP.StinglV.WiedM.OehmenJ. (2021). Asymmetric legitimacy perception across megaproject stakeholders: The case of the Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link. International Journal of Project Management, 39(4), 377–393.
104.
WuW.HeF.ZhuangT.YiY. (2020). Stakeholder analysis and social network analysis in the decision-making of industrial land redevelopment in China: The case of Shanghai. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(24), article 9206.
105.
XieL.van Der HeijdenH.-A. (2010). Environmental movements and political opportunities: The case of China. Social Movement Studies, 9(1), 51–68.
106.
YinR. K. (2018). Case study research and applications (Vol. 6). Sage.
107.
YoungS.EarS. (2021). Transnational political economic structures: Explaining transnational environmental movements against dams in the lower Mekong region. Third World Quarterly, 42(12), 2993–3011.
108.
ZamanU.Florez-PerezL.KhwajaM. G.AbbasiS.QureshiM. G. (2021). Exploring the critical nexus between authoritarian leadership, project team member's silence and multi-dimensional success in a state-owned mega construction project. International Journal of Project Management, 39(8), 873–886.
