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69 (Melucci 1989, 27)
(Melucci 1989, 27)
These three axes of a multipolar action system [goals, means, environment] resemble a set of interdependent vectors in a state of mutual tension. Collective action has to satisfy multiple and contrasting requirements. It is never the simple expression of actors’ intentions, but is constructed by actors who utilize the resources available to them within a particular environment of possibilities and obstacles. Ends, means and the environment continually tend to generate tensions within the action itself: the objectives may not correspond to the means, the environment may be rich or poor in resources, and the means may be more or less congruent with the field of action. In addition, there may be continual tensions even within the single axes: for example, between short.- and long-term objectives, in the choice of means, between the use of resources to maximize the efficacy of action or to consolidate solidarity, and in actors’ various relationships with their environment, which provides opportunities to a greater or lesser extent.
Collective actors continually negotiate and renegotiate each of these dimensions. Leadership patterns and organizational forms represent attempts to give a more durable and predictable order to these negotiations. This point is usually ignored in analyses of collective action. Attention is normally focused upon its more visible aspects (personalities and events, public mobilizations, acts of violence). These visible phenomena are, however, only manifestations of deeper processes which in turn depend upon the capacity of actors to negotiate the ends, means and environment of their action. Collective action constantly requires this ’social construction’ - the faiiure or breakdown of which renders collective action impossible. [Melucci, Alberto. 1989. Nomads of the Present. London: Hutchinson Radius.]
