The Commons in an Age of Uncertainty: Decolonizing Nature, Economy, and Society

Description

In the last two hundred years, the earth has increasingly become the private property of a few classes, races, transnational corporations, and nations. Repeated claims about the "tragedy of the commons" and the "crisis of capitalism" have done little to explain this concentration of land, encourage solution-building to solve resource depletion, or address our current socio-ecological crisis. The Commons in an Age of Uncertainty presents a new explanation, vision, and action plan based on the idea of commoning the land. The book argues that by commoning the land, rather than privatising it, we can develop the foundation for prosperity without destructive growth and address both local and global challenges. Making the land the most fundamental priority of all commons does not only give hope, it also opens the doors to a new world in which economy, environment, and society are decolonised and liberated. Cover Copyright Contents Preface Part A: The Problem 1 The Age of Uncertainty Part B: The Debates and a Path through Them 2 Historical Debates on the Commons 3 Rethinking the Commons Part C: The Proof 4 Cities 5 Technology 6 Oil 7 Water Part D: The Future of the Commons 8 Concluding Remarks: Towards a New Ecological Political Economy References Index