Power and Rationality: The Politics of Harbour Reclamation in Hong Kong

Flyvbjerg argues that power often overrides rationality as power wielders frequently portray ‘rationalisation’ as rationality to define ‘truths’ that justify their actions. When power is great, rationality diminishes. In confrontation, rationality yields to power. In this paper I contest these arguments. Through differentiating the concept of power into ‘outcome power’ held by those with privileged access to authority and ‘social power’, the power of resistance vested in everyone, and by distinguishing the concept of rationality into ‘technical’, ‘strategic’ (rationalisation), and ‘value’ rationalities, I assert that, in confrontations, individuals with social power can counteract outcome power and develop their value rationality to reproblematise issues for transformative changes. A study of the reclamation debates in Hong Kong illustrates how social power has augmented value rationality, challenging the government's outcome power and its rationalisation for further harbour reclamation, reproblematising the harbour as a unique natural heritage feature worthy of protection by law.