Maxime Royoux

Please tell us about your research project.

I study organisations and individuals, both within the business world and in public administration, who promote productivism and defend it, particularly against the environmental State. To this end, I adopt a
socio-historical approach: the period I am interested in spans from the 1990s to the present day. Among other practices, I am interested in the activities of representatives of economic power and of legal experts specialising in environmental law.

Could you please tell us a bit more about your scholarship/exchange programme?

I am spending a month at the MFO as part of a ‘Monthly Scholarship’. My time here serves three purposes. Having studied the French case in my thesis, I am now interested in the British context. In the early 1990s, the Secretary of State for the Environment sought to tighten environmental regulations on economic activities. A business organisation such as the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) is responding to this situation, relying in part on its contacts within the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, with the aim of scaling back the government’s environmental ambitions. My stay in Oxford will then give me the opportunity to exchange views with researchers specialising in subjects such as environmental law. I shall finally be able to make the most of Oxford’s superb libraries to broaden my knowledge of the academic literature, particularly in the fields of economic sociology and political science.

First impressions of Oxford/the University?

Arriving in Oxford during a heatwave was a real relief. Parks and gardens – and even their wildlife – can be found all along the routes through this city, which is on a human scale. Having known other medieval university towns, I appreciate the beauty of the streets and buildings, which also offer excellent conditions for studying. Intellectual life does not develop at the expense of physical well-being, and it gives a central place to social life.