Since megaprojects are costly, impactful, and often contentious policymaking processes, scholars have started to look at policy narratives as instruments that actors use strategically to justify their preferences and achieve their goals. But is this really the case? Do actors always adopt a narrative to support their goals? Do they develop arguments that are consistent with their official goals and in a timely manner? This paper suggests that, when megaprojects are not salient, narratives are likely to be strategically nonused or used in a hypocritical way, as such strategies better fit the process-related goals of significant actors. Such a claim is illustrated by a case study on the construction of a new high-speed railway line and station in the city of Florence (Italy). Relying on content and discourse analysis of official documents, and experts’ interviews, the paper shows that, despite favorable premises for the emergence of a battle of narratives, this never took place, as some of the proponents choose to nonuse a strategic narrative, while others occasionally publicly used arguments to jeopardize the whole project. In turn, opponents effectively developed a strategic narrative that, differently from other similar cases, mostly relied on technical arguments and emplotment. Hence, the case study generates hypotheses that could be tested in further studies on the conditions under which a coalitional dynamic emerges and the role played by policy narratives in the process.

中文翻译：

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大型项目中战略叙事的不使用和虚伪使用：佛罗伦萨高速铁路的案例

由于大型项目是成本高昂、影响深远且经常引起争议的决策过程，学者们开始将政策叙述视为行为者战略性使用的工具，以证明其偏好的合理性并实现其目标。但事实真的如此吗？演员是否总是采用叙事来支持他们的目标？他们是否及时提出符合其官方目标的论点？本文表明，当大型项目不突出时，叙事很可能在战略上不被使用或以虚伪的方式使用，因为这样的策略更适合重要参与者的过程相关目标。关于在佛罗伦萨市（意大利）建设一条新的高速铁路线和车站的案例研究说明了这种说法。依托官方文件的内容和话语分析，和专家访谈，该论文表明，尽管出现叙事之战的前提是有利的，但这从未发生，因为一些支持者选择不使用战略叙事，而其他人偶尔公开使用论点来危及整个项目. 反过来，反对者有效地发展了一种战略叙事，与其他类似案例不同，这种叙事主要依赖于技术论证和谋划。因此，案例研究产生了假设，这些假设可以在进一步研究联合动态出现的条件以及政策叙述在该过程中所扮演的角色时进行检验。而其他人偶尔会公开使用论据来破坏整个项目。反过来，反对者有效地发展了一种战略叙事，与其他类似案例不同，这种叙事主要依赖于技术论证和谋划。因此，案例研究产生了假设，这些假设可以在进一步研究联合动态出现的条件以及政策叙述在该过程中所扮演的角色时进行检验。而其他人偶尔会公开使用论据来破坏整个项目。反过来，反对者有效地发展了一种战略叙事，与其他类似案例不同，这种叙事主要依赖于技术论证和谋划。因此，案例研究产生了假设，这些假设可以在进一步研究联合动态出现的条件以及政策叙述在该过程中所扮演的角色时进行检验。