Gordon Laxer is a political economist in the Department of Sociology at the University of Alberta. He is the author of Open for Business: The Roots of Foreign Ownership in Canada (Oxford University Press, 1989) and co-editor (with Sandra Halperin) of Global Civil Society and Its Limits (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003). Professor Laxer is the director and co-founder of Parkland Institute, a non-corporate, Alberta research network. Dennis Soron is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Brock University.

• List of Tables and Figures Acknowledgements Part One: Framing the Issues 1. Thematic Introduction: Decommodification, Democracy, and the Battle for the CommonsDennis Soron & Gordon Laxer  2. The Commodity Status of Labour: The Secret of Commodified Life David McNally  3. On the Ownership of Nature Birgit Muller 4. Cosmopolitan Elites Versus Nationally-focused Citizens-Cycles of Decommodification Struggles Gordon Laxer  Part Two: Dynamics of Commodification 5. The General Agreement on Trade in Services-Politics by Another Means Ellen Gould 6. Frontiers of the Market: Commodifying Human Body Parts Trevor W. Harrison 7. A New Gender (Dis)order?-Neoliberal Restructuring in Australia Ray Broomhill & Rhonda Sharp                8. Water is Life! The Debate over Private Sector Participation in Water Supply Karen Bakker  Part Three: Democratic Struggles for Decommodification9. Commodification and Decommodification in Mexico under NAFTA Teresa Gutierrez-Haces 10. Forging New Democracies: Indigenous Struggles for Autonomy Gerardo Otero & Heidi Jugenitz11. In Defence of the Environmental State: NGO Strategies to Resist the Commodification of Nature Anita Krajnc 12. From the Knowledge Economy to the Knowledge Commons: Resisting the Commodification of Knowledge Jennifer Sumner 13. Decommodifying Daily Life: The Politics of Overconsumption Dennis Soron   References Notes on Contributors Index

Gordon Laxer is a political economist in the Department of Sociology at the University of Alberta. He is the author of Open for Business: The Roots of Foreign Ownership in Canada (Oxford University Press, 1989) and co-editor (with Sandra Halperin) of Global Civil Society and Its Limits (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003). Professor Laxer is the director and co-founder of Parkland Institute, a non-corporate, Alberta research network. Dennis Soron is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Brock University.

• List of Tables and Figures Acknowledgements Part One: Framing the Issues 1. Thematic Introduction: Decommodification, Democracy, and the Battle for the CommonsDennis Soron & Gordon Laxer  2. The Commodity Status of Labour: The Secret of Commodified Life David McNally  3. On the Ownership of Nature Birgit Muller 4. Cosmopolitan Elites Versus Nationally-focused Citizens-Cycles of Decommodification Struggles Gordon Laxer  Part Two: Dynamics of Commodification 5. The General Agreement on Trade in Services-Politics by Another Means Ellen Gould 6. Frontiers of the Market: Commodifying Human Body Parts Trevor W. Harrison 7. A New Gender (Dis)order?-Neoliberal Restructuring in Australia Ray Broomhill & Rhonda Sharp                8. Water is Life! The Debate over Private Sector Participation in Water Supply Karen Bakker  Part Three: Democratic Struggles for Decommodification9. Commodification and Decommodification in Mexico under NAFTA Teresa Gutierrez-Haces 10. Forging New Democracies: Indigenous Struggles for Autonomy Gerardo Otero & Heidi Jugenitz11. In Defence of the Environmental State: NGO Strategies to Resist the Commodification of Nature Anita Krajnc 12. From the Knowledge Economy to the Knowledge Commons: Resisting the Commodification of Knowledge Jennifer Sumner 13. Decommodifying Daily Life: The Politics of Overconsumption Dennis Soron   References Notes on Contributors Index