Juridical and Administrative inefficiencies of the social construction of risk: the case of mobile phone masts in Catalonia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24965/reala.v0i311.9686Keywords:
Risk governance, mobile phone infrastructure, juridical inefficiency, regulatorAbstract
The deployment of mobile telephone infrastructures in Catalonia constitutes a key factor for the development of the information society and a cause of public controversy as a consequence of the collective perception of a socially constructed risk in relation to the effects on human health of electromagnetic radiation. This controversy has caused the stagnation of the deployment of infrastructures even when it is supported by a legal framework that were initially designed to regulate and promote said deployment by fostering cooperation between the different stakeholders. Administrative regulations that were originally passed to promote technological infrastructure become an obstacle to the same on the basis of the conflicts generated by the stakeholders in the process, especially Local Administration and mobile telephone operators. The consequences of this stagnation leads to what is known as the digital divide, i.e. the division between citizens and companies that reside in regions where there is sufficient coverage and those that cannot access it. This phenomenon is even more pronounced when it comes to the implantation of third generation mobile telephony, which requires the installation of a larger number of antennas. In this context, it is highly recommendable for proposals to be formulated for efficient local administrative- uridical praxis.Downloads
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