Dossier " Économie de la proximité " Un approfondissement du modèle exit-voice par l'économie de la proximité

Abstract

Refining the exit-voice model with proximity economics. This article aims to develop a theoretical analysis by combining Hirschman's exit-voice model with the recent development of proximity economics about the respective roles of geographical proximity and organised proximity in the production and management of environmental issues. We show that both exit and voice solutions depend on the actors' positioning in several social structures, i.e., geographical space, resources space and coordination structures. These theoretical findings are then applied to the issue of water resource conflicts observed in the French region drained by the river Charente. More precisely, we focus on the conflict between agriculture and oyster culture arising mainly from the intensive development of irrigation. Up to the early 2000s, we note that the conflict was difficult to solve since (i) geographical proximity was imposed on the stakeholders, (ii) mobilisation of organised proximity seemed very difficult for oyster culturists, (iii) the relation, both geographical and institutional, between agriculture and oyster culture was asymmetric. Since then, organised proximity has evolved positively thanks to the volumetric management coordinated by the River Charente Institution, which has introduced some new rules for irrigation practices. This development consolidates the voice solution and allows actors to partially solve the quantitative environmental problem they are faced with. © 2009 NSS Dialogues, EDP Sciences.