"Despite centuries of enclosure and commodification, the commons remain an enduring way of organi... more "Despite centuries of enclosure and commodification, the commons remain an enduring way of organising, and one that may have increased relevance as we get into deeper economic and ecological crisis. After exploring the ambivalent relationships between the commons and capitalism, the paper argues that the commons are best understood as a social process of organisation and production, rather than as a resource. It starts by considering the work of Elinor Ostrom which has been essential in demonstrating that the commons involve community, some collective organisation for sharing and preserving common resources. But Ostrom only considered part of the commons. She explored how communities organise in commons to share resources between individual members, but ignores the fact that commons may not just be distributed in common, but also used in commons, and in this process reproductive of community. The paper moves on to explore this process of organising for the commons and of the commons by drawing on three brief examples: a commune, a community of local residents reclaiming their neighbourhood, and a social centre. Using these examples, the paper then discusses the mode of organising underpinning the commons in terms of the production and distribution of use, and the reliance on the principle of ‘reciprocity in perpetuity’ (Pedersen, 2010). The conclusion suggests that considering the failure of the markets and states to address the crises in which we find ourselves, developing and understanding the commons become urgent tasks.
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"Despite centuries of enclosure and commodification, the commons remain an enduring way of organi... more "Despite centuries of enclosure and commodification, the commons remain an enduring way of organising, and one that may have increased relevance as we get into deeper economic and ecological crisis. After exploring the ambivalent relationships between the commons and capitalism, the paper argues that the commons are best understood as a social process of organisation and production, rather than as a resource. It starts by considering the work of Elinor Ostrom which has been essential in demonstrating that the commons involve community, some collective organisation for sharing and preserving common resources. But Ostrom only considered part of the commons. She explored how communities organise in commons to share resources between individual members, but ignores the fact that commons may not just be distributed in common, but also used in commons, and in this process reproductive of community. The paper moves on to explore this process of organising for the commons and of the commons by drawing on three brief examples: a commune, a community of local residents reclaiming their neighbourhood, and a social centre. Using these examples, the paper then discusses the mode of organising underpinning the commons in terms of the production and distribution of use, and the reliance on the principle of ‘reciprocity in perpetuity’ (Pedersen, 2010). The conclusion suggests that considering the failure of the markets and states to address the crises in which we find ourselves, developing and understanding the commons become urgent tasks.
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Papers by Valerie Fournier
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