ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses some cultural-symbolic aspects of public decision-making, of nimby-ism and of viscosity. It explains that various patterns of sense and meaning production can be detected in the 'viscosity discourse', too. The chapter discusses the specific ideas and views on administration that are associated with the nimby metaphor. Looked at from an instrumental point of view, the question is how to achieve a more productive decision-making process. The nimby phenomenon can also be approached through a number of classical notions from political science to do with decision-making and representation. Nimby situations, so the assumption goes, are about provisions whose benefit is acknowledged by everybody but which nobody wants in their own back yard. The example shows that, in practice, the different nimby variants cannot be separated but are intermingled. Some characteristics of the classic regenten culture have left their marie on the attitudes and behaviour of present-day administrators.
