From NIMBY to transformation? Lessons from four case studies in the Maule Region in Chile

Abstract

ABSTRACT Research on local environmental struggles as a politicisation process opens space to reflect on the contributions of socio-ecological resistance movements toward systemic sustainability governance. This article seeks to empirically test Sebastien’s theoretical and methodological framework on enlightening resistance through four case studies from Chile, while additionally exploring the capacity of politically proactive movements to push socio-ecological change beyond lifeworld sustainability toward systemic sustainability. This study aims to inquire into the usefulness of the enlightening resistance framework as a contribution to a larger theoretical effort to shed light on the blockers and enablers of political action towards transformative social change. Drawing on both primary and secondary data, and applying interpretive content-based analysis on the variables of the enlightening resistance framework for each case, our study finds a dull transition happening from resistance to proactive-type movements, yet challenging certain aspects of Sebastien’s thesis. While the movements are partially successful in reframing discourses about the territory, they do not translate into proposals capable of outcompeting the resisted projects, nor into any change in relevant decision-making processes. In addition, we introduce a hypothesis about the adequacy of this framework in socio-political and socio-economic contexts characterised by a disempowered civil society and a type of "neoliberal" sustainability governance favouring market actors as well as experts – both technical and legal –, while silencing local actors. Also, the capacity of proactive-type movements to transcend the boundaries of lifeworld sustainability has been shown to be limited because of a structural decoupling of the latter from system sustainability.