Not in My Back Yard (NIMBY)

Discipline: Political Science

Phrase attributed to Walton Rodger and widely linked to British Conservative politician and minister Nicholas Ridley (1929-1993).

There are always those who attempt to exclude themselves from the consequences of policies which in general they support. A house owner might advocate new motorways, but not at the bottom of his or her own back-garden.

NIMBY, as an observation about the behavior of both individual citizens and their parliamentary representatives, was gleefully applied to many public figures.

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