ABSTRACT
Recent times have witnessed the resurgence of the term commons, invoked from various different, and often radically opposed, positions. Some relate commons to efficient use and governance of resources in a rather sterilised fashion, de-contextualised from the broader processes of capital accumulation, spread of markets and power relations. International organisations, such as the World Bank—in a move that (implicitly) acknowledges the destructive impact of the relentless spread of markets and market relations—have been emphasising the need for community-based management of the commons to ensure their efficient and sustainable use. Somewhat similarly, an increasingly popular approach posits the commons as a third way between the State and market, sitting side-by-side (peacefully) with them. This takes for granted that certain fields of the social economic landscape should be organised via the market (such as private production and consumption) and others by the State (such as public goods and services), but those arenas where the State–market duo is either ineffective or undesirable are commons to be governed by communities. On the other hand, social mobilisations all around the world, whether resistance movements [Chapters 16 and 17], or concrete practices of alternatives, are increasingly framing their discourses with reference to the commons: defending, reclaiming and/or building them. These social mobilisations often adopt the term as a conceptual tool to help participants imagine non-capitalist ways of organising their material life and creating solidarity.
