The lack of ethics in the territorial networks of informal activities and the ineffectiveness of local development of the territories

Abstract

Failure to observe ethical practices causes enormous concern in communities. This slows down economic growth, reduces tax revenues, deprives employees of social protection and therefore hinders local development. To better understand this phenomenon, recourse to the field of applied ethics is necessary. This new field offers a renewed philosophical approach to the articulation of moral theory with practice. This field is completed by the theory of English utilitarianism of John Stuart Mill, of the Protestant ethics and the spirit of capitalism of Max Weber and of French paternalism of Frédéric Le Play (Debbab, 2015). The approach adopted within the framework of this research is qualitative inductive with as a strategy of access to reality, a multi-site case study. The data were collected from workers in the informal sector (iron sellers, women dyers, sand fishermen, herb sellers, street vendors), families close to informal activities, town hall officials. The data collected was processed using the analytical questioning technique (content analysis). The results of the research have shown that the networks of informal enterprises do not respect the values, rules and principles which structure relations in the territory. Networks have no ethical concerns with business partners. Unacceptable practices are widespread and affect local development. To do this, the actors will learn to be careful to rule out practices harmful to local strategies which do not support the local development of the territories.