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If You’re an Egalitarian, How Come You’re a NIMBY?

Political philosophy typically assumes the sovereign state with jurisdiction over a large, usually national, territory, a focus that has recently been challenged by salutary calls to attend to the macro politics of the international order, or the micro politics of the family. However, still neglected is the politics of municipal jurisdictions, despite their significant implications for questions of social justice. Moreover, the dimensions of social life regulated by local government are important sources of a life well lived, an antidote to the ‘neutralist’ preoccupations of much contemporary political theory. One example of controversy in local jurisdictions is the ‘NIMBY’ problem, a term used to characterise resistance to development policies by local inhabitants as a matter of personal, selfish interests being put ahead of the public good. In this paper I argue that the NIMBY appellation mischaracterises the issues at stake in the fights of community activists against unwanted development. NIMBYs’ actions are usually rational and reasonable, and far from being at odds with the public good, they in fact may seek to ward off public bads, and thus shed light on the complex nature of human flourishing in communities.