| Abstract: | The development of a 1300 km natural gas pipeline in Australia in late 1976 is used to unravel some of the more important determinants of state action. The analysis highlights the contradictory position of the state in democratic capitalist societies. The separate actions taken by the state in support of the developer, the environmentalists, or to put into effect political ideals reflect a complex set of determinants of the state's behaviour. It is this fact which makes it difficult always to predict the state's response to individual incidents of conflict over resource use. The analysis also illustrates how time and place influenced the action and reaction of the participants in the debate over the location of the pipeline. |
