"The clay pot against the iron pot. The asymmetrical weapons and scales of contentious between wind industry and its opponents in France"
Le pot de terre contre le pot de fer. Asymétrie des armes et des échelles du conflit entre l'industrie du vent et ses opposants en France
Résumé
Windfarms development is associated with international demands. In the European Union, voluntarist public policies have been implemented after several world summits in the 1990’s. At the national level in France, wind industry can rely on heavy supporters and dominant actors of administrative, political, industrial, economic, scientific, innovative, media, environmentalist fields. Various social and political institutions give a great support and high level of legitimacy to renewable energies, all the more since nuclear industry is much disputed. From the national State to local authorities, every administrative level has to respect the commitments made in regard to greenhouse gas reductions. Most of the regional and local representatives give also their support to renewable energies, which are portrayed as a fundamental part of the energy transition solutions. Confronted to the fact that governmental voluntarism and its local relays are very strong, individual and collective, local and national opponents have a hard time asserting their arguments. The protest coalitions are effectively characterized by the asymmetrical tools they can rely on to protest against windfarms lobby at the local and national scale. Wind industry opponents face several challenges, stigmata, and trial of legitimacy. At a local scale, protests against windfarms are criticized as forms of “Nimby” expressions when at the national scale, opposition is led by social actors whose social properties and political orientations tend to make difficult building a common purpose. Finally, last energy policy transformations make contentious even more difficult for opponents in terms of public debate and legal remedies.