How im(Moral) is the “Nimby” stand? Elements to the Ethics of “environmental” Conflicts

Abstract

The extensive use of the “Not In My Back Yard” (NIMBY) acronym by social scientists and society at large (i) is supposed to describe an existing phenomenon, even if it is admittedly ill-defined and elusive and (ii) became the indicator of a set of social, ideological and moral choices, and is used as a tool to depreciatively qualifying the resistance and protest of communities against the implementation of projects affecting them (namely their water resources). The argument relies on two oppositions: (i) at the social level, between “private” (namely individual) interest and “general interest” or “common good” and (ii) on a moral perspective, the split between an egocentric or selfish attitude and an altruist one. From a methodological perspective, NIMBYism tends to be analysed at the individual level: attitudes, motivations, self-interest calculation, rationality. We will consider that complex phenomenon at a social scale, considering convergence of interests and solidarity among concerned individuals, propagation of protests beyond the local level, and the process of aggregation of actions to constitute genuine social movements. A reappraisal of the Ethics of so-called “NIMBYism”.