Think Like a Commoner, Second Edition

David Bollier is an American activist and scholar who studies the commons as a new paradigm for re-imagining economics, politics, and culture. He has been Director of the Reinventing the Commons Program at the Schumacher Center for a New Economics (USA) since 2016, and frequently collaborates with an international network of brilliant irregulars. He blogs at Bollier.org, hosts the podcast Frontiers of Commoning, and has written ten books on the commons, including The Commoner's Catalog for Changemaking, Patterns of Commoning, The Wealth of the Commons, and, with Silke Helfrich, Free, Fair and Alive. Bollier lives in Amherst, Massachusetts.

Every 21st century economic thinker needs to understand the commons, from their fascinating histories to their many future possibilities—and this book provides the perfect introduction. It is the starting point that I recommend to everyone. —Kate Raworth, author, Doughnut Economics We don't live alone in the world, but it's organized in ways that push us apart. Think Like a Commoner restores those relationships—with place, as well as with each other. In place of passive anxiety, these pages are filled with meaningful acts of care—as already practiced by grassroots communities across the world. —John Thackara, author, convenor, educatorIn Think Like a Commoner, David Bollier, the trailblazing commons thinker and activist, has formulated the economic principles of an animate universe. He manages the rare task of both sketching a bold new economic cosmology and detailing the filigree of its practical applications. The intrigued reader comes to understand: not only is reality as such a commons, centered around the reciprocity of the gift of life, so are the bulk of our cultural practices and many systems of material and social exchange. The commons, it turns out, is what underlies everything and what ultimately fulfills our deepest longings. —Dr. Andreas Weber, biologist, philosopher, and author, The Biology of Wonder and Matter and Desire Curious about the commons and eager to build a new world? You could not find a more accessible, inspiring guidebook than Think Like a Commoner. Highly recommended!—Susan Witt, co-founder and executive director, Schumacher Center for a New EconomicsDavid Bollier, the doyen of today's champions of the commons, has written the definitive primer. The commons is inexorably moving to the forefront of progressive thinking and action. Quite simply, without a commons revival, there is no future. —Guy Standing, author, The Blue Commons Since the first publication of David Bollier's earlier version of Think Like a Commoner in 2014, I have consistently used it in classes I teach at my university. I know of no work that so gracefully presents commons history, the many types of commons that exist in our world, and key issues they face. This book should be required reading—not just for all students—but for every person on the planet, to allow them to rediscover ideas they may have forgotten, introduce new ones, and become inspired toward collectively generating a better world, one commoning instance at a time. —Charlie Schweik, professor, University of Massachusetts, and president, International Association for the Study of the Commons (2022-2024)This landmark book lays out a comprehensive framework for a parallel polis: how we might reorient our society around a way of communing that sets the conditions for collective human flourishing. —Jeremy Lent, author, The Patterning Instinct and The Web of Meaning In this highly readable overview, David Bollier re-introduces us to the web of social trust and cooperation that existed before capitalism—and that we must reweave if we are to survive. Fortunately, there are innumerable examples of "commoning" around the world, where groups of social innovators are finding ways to create an open-access, sustainable, vibrant future. —Richard Heinberg, author, Power, senior fellow, Post Carbon Institute

• Preface to the Second EditionIntroduction1. The Rediscovery of the CommonsPART I. ENCLOSURE, DISPOSSESSION, AND THE ECLIPSE OF COMMONING 2. The Tyranny of the "Tragedy" Myth3. Enclosures of NatureThe Massive International Land GrabThe Privatization of WaterThe Corporatization of Food4. All That Is Shared Becomes a Market CommodityThe Marketization of Universities and Their ResearchEnclosures of InfrastructureEnclosures of Civic InfrastructureThe Many Costs of EnclosurePart II. Commons as Living, Generative Systems5. Many Galaxies of CommonsSubsistence CommonsIndigenous Peoples' CommonsMutual Aid and Gift EconomiesAlternative Local CurrenciesCooperatives6. The Eclipsed History of the CommonsWhat Evolutionary Sciences Tell Us About CooperationThe Forgotten Legal History of the CommonsThe Liberal State and the Eclipse of Vernacular Law7. The Commons as a Relational OrganismThe Metaphysics of the Commons Is Relational8. Local, Vernacular, and AliveCommoning Our Way to a Land EthicVernacular Culture and the CommonsA New Vision of Local DevelopmentUrban Commons . 9. Digital Rebels in the Big Tech ImperiumIt All Began with Free SoftwareCreative Commons: A License to ShareThe Open-Access Publishing RevolutionCosmolocal Production, DAOs, and Commons InfrastructuresPART II. COMMONS AS LIVING, GENERATIVE SYSTEMS 10. Relationalized Property and FinanceThe Inalienable Rights of CommonersJohn Locke's Theories About Property RightsThe Measure of WealthRelationalized PropertyRelationalized Finance11. Reimagining State PowerState Power and Commons Are Different Orders of LifeCommoning and International LawState Trustee CommonsLegal Hacks on Western JurisprudenceCommons/Public PartnershipsConclusion: The Future of the CommonsThe Commons as Gift and DutyTools for Exploring the CommonsverseThe Commons, Short and SweetThe Triad of Commoning: Social Life, Peer Governance, and ProvisioningThe Logic of the Commons and the MarketFurther ReadingWebsites Engaged with Commons and CommoningAcknowledgmentsIndexAbout the AuthorAbout New Society Publishers