Knotting the net: From 'design by deception' to an object oriented politics

Through analysis of the Italian system for stakeholder management-the so-called Conferenza di Servizi, which was organised according to stakeholder theory with an emphasis on representation of interested parties-this paper identifies the limitations of representation to predict the fate of a megaproject. Settlements based on interests are not able to capture all relevant actors and all relevant types of knowledge. In contrast to stakeholder theory, Dingpolitics explains project management as a process of finding out the multiple, evolving and sometimes indefinite contours of claims and concerns from many human and non-human actors by analysing both what actors are worried about and how their different concerns, ambitions and claims are composed.