Publication details
Anti-fossil frames : Examining narratives of the opposition to brown coal mining in the Czech Republic
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2019 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Energy Research & Social Science |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Web | článek |
| Doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2019.04.011 |
| Keywords | Local opposition; Post-NIMBY; Social movement; Framing; Environmental modernism; Green radicalism; Place attachment |
| Attached files | |
| Description | This article analyzes the coalmining opposition in the Czech Republic, a country with substantial brown coal production, high dependency on this fuel, massive exports in form of electricity, and a long and proud mining history. In 1991, the Czech government established so-called territorial ecological limits restricting production in the North Bohemian and Sokolov brown coal basins. The existence of these limits sparked a conflict between proponents of mining, desiring the valuable yet inaccessible reserves beyond the limits, and an opposition movement, ardently objecting to any extension of mining activities. This article focuses on the discursive level of this conflict, investigating how members of the opposition movement frame their own activity against coal to discover the main framing patterns within the opposition movement. Based on 39 semi-structured interviews conducted in 2017–2018, three frames emerged – the Local Impact frame, the Low-Carbon Transition frame, and the Anti-Systemic Environmental frame. These frames reveal that the opposition is driven by distinct complex narratives stemming from actors’ deeper ideological orientations. Moreover, the opposition is not homogeneous but consists of a variety of actors with different protest tactics. These findings support the growing literature questioning the Not-In-My-Backyard (NIMBY) narrative, echoed often by the pro-mining camp through the strategies and policies they implement. Furthermore, the research not only enriches our understanding of the local opposition but also helps to explain the long-term stalemate in coal-related debates in the Czech Republic. |
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