test
Search publications, data, projects and authors

Article

French

ID: <

10.4000/espacepolitique.9113

>

·

DOI: <

10.4000/espacepolitique.9113

>

Where these data come from
When public debate fails to prevent conflict: feedback on the contestation of an industrial energy transition project in the Landes (France)

Abstract

Participatory practices in the environment and planning fields are tending to become more widespread (Alban et al., 2005). In France, citizen participation has been encouraged by a significant legislative trend since the 1980s and 1990s, which has led to the implementation of various types of public consultation processes (Raymond, 2009), some permanent, others temporary and most of which now have to include the participation of residents (Blondiaux, 2008; Muller, 2005). This development in participatory democracy, however, has come in for much criticism (Gourgues et al., 2013): some see the risk of it weakening representative democracy; others, on the contrary, deplore the lack of ambition of participatory processes, which rarely lead to co-decisions and often fail to secure equal expression for all points of view. In France, the Public Debate process was established by law under Act n°95-101 of February 2, 1995 on protection of the environment. The aim was to find a solution to address the strong opposition to major infrastructure projects, particularly high-speed railway lines (Lolive, 1999), observed in the early 1990s, the causes of which were considered to be a lack of information and a lack of consideration for the local populations affected (Dziedzicki, 2001). This consultation process is open to all citizens and was designed for major development projects with a high environmental impact. It aims to build up the social acceptability of a project through exchanges of different points of view (Gaudin, 2007; Doury et al., 2006; Blondiaux, 2008; Oiry, 2015). In reality, this public sphere for consultation does not always succeed in building consensus. How far are contentious positions taken into account in a participatory process that aims to avoid conflict in order to bring about a negotiated agreement on a project? How real is citizen empowerment in such public debates?This article aims to answer these questions by assessing the quality of participation in the case of a public debate process organized in 2011-2012 in south-western France (Landes département). This debate concerned an industrial gas storage project which, according to the project leader, would contribute to the energy transition. The research method was based on analysis of a textual corpus made up of verbatim transcriptions of the nine public meetings organized by the local committee in charge of organizing the public debate (CPDP) and on participant observation (the author being a member of this committee).The following results can be highlighted: - During this public debate, possibilities for citizens' expression of their views were very restrictive. - However, citizen participation in the public debate was very high.- During and outside the public debate process, a well-structured and cogently argued opposition movement to the project was gradually set up.- The emergence of this conflict has multiple causes and can be explained in particular by the specific characteristics of the area affected by the project.- The citizens mobilizing against the project never boycotted or obstructed the public debate process, but diverted it from its original purpose to turn it into a forum for protest.- While some researchers have emphasized the instrumentalization of mobilized citizens (Neveu, 2011) or their depoliticization (Gourgues, 2018) in public debates, the opposite was observed in the case studied here.

Your Feedback

Please give us your feedback and help us make GoTriple better.
Fill in our satisfaction questionnaire and tell us what you like about GoTriple!