Derek Wall – författare

An argument that the commons is neither tragedy nor paradise but can be a way to understand environmental sustainability.

The history of the commons—jointly owned land or other resources such as fisheries or forests set aside for public use—provides a useful context for current debates over sustainability and how we can act as “good ancestors.” In this book, Derek Wall considers the commons from antiquity to the present day, as an idea, an ecological space, an economic abstraction, and a management practice. He argues that the commons should be viewed neither as a “tragedy” of mismanagement (as the biologist Garrett Hardin wrote in 1968) nor as a panacea for solving environmental problems. Instead, Walls sees the commons as a particular form of property ownership, arguing that property rights are essential to understanding sustainability. How we use the land and its resources offers insights into how we value the environment.

After defining the commons and describing the arguments of Hardin''s influential article and Elinor Ostrom''s more recent work on the commons, Wall offers historical case studies from the United States, England, India, and Mongolia. He examines the power of cultural norms to maintain the commons; political conflicts over the commons; and how commons have protected, or failed to protect ecosystems. Combining intellectual and material histories with an eye on contemporary debates, Wall offers an applied history that will interest academics, activists, and policy makers.

Earth First! is one of the most controversial and well known green movements in the world and the driving force behind the anti-road campaigns of the 1990s, made famous by sabotage tactics. Detailed accounts of major anti-road campaigns both in the UK and internationally are included, describing confrontations at Twyford, Newbury, Glasgow, the Autobahn in Germany, and information on the international spread of the Earth First! movement, with details of campaigns in Australia, Ireland, Germany, France, Holland and Eastern Europe. Earth First! and the Anti-Roads Movement traces the origins of the movement and the history of anti-roads activism in Britain since the 1880s. Radical EF! organisers describe how they took on their green activist identity, why they launched both EF! and the anti-roads movement, and their experiences of dramatic protest. Exposing the tensions between EF! and other green activists, they explain the political and economic influences on and the culture and politics of protest. Showing how green social and political theory can be linked to practical struggles for environmental and social change, Derek Wall investigates key topics of political and sociological interest in Britain and the World today. This is an authoritative account based on passionate and lyrical autobiographical accutns form activists blended with a strong theoretical grounding.

Earth First! is one of the most controversial and well known green movements in the world and the driving force behind the anti-road campaigns of the 1990s, made famous by sabotage tactics. Detailed accounts of major anti-road campaigns both in the UK and internationally are included, describing confrontations at Twyford, Newbury, Glasgow, the Autobahn in Germany, and information on the international spread of the Earth First! movement, with details of campaigns in Australia, Ireland, Germany, France, Holland and Eastern Europe. Earth First! and the Anti-Roads Movement traces the origins of the movement and the history of anti-roads activism in Britain since the 1880s. Radical EF! organisers describe how they took on their green activist identity, why they launched both EF! and the anti-roads movement, and their experiences of dramatic protest. Exposing the tensions between EF! and other green activists, they explain the political and economic influences on and the culture and politics of protest. Showing how green social and political theory can be linked to practical struggles for environmental and social change, Derek Wall investigates key topics of political and sociological interest in Britain and the World today. This is an authoritative account based on passionate and lyrical autobiographical accutns form activists blended with a strong theoretical grounding.

Elinor Ostrom’s Nobel Prize-winning work on common pool property rights has implications for some of the most pressing sustainability issues of the twenty-first century — from tackling climate change to maintaining cyberspace. In this book, Derek Wall critically examines Ostrom’s work, while also exploring the following questions: is it possible to combine insights rooted in methodological individualism with a theory that stresses collectivist solutions? Is Ostrom’s emphasis on largely local solutions to climate change relevant to a crisis propelled by global factors?

This volume situates her ideas in terms of the constitutional analysis of her partner Vincent Ostrom and wider institutional economics. It outlines her key concerns, including a radical research methodology, commitment to indigenous people and the concept of social-ecological systems. Ostrom is recognised for producing a body of work which demonstrates how people can construct rules that allow them to exploit the environment in an ecologically sustainable way, without the need for governmental regulation, and this book argues that in a world where ecological realities increasingly threaten material prosperity, such scholarship provides a way of thinking about how humanity can create truly sustainable development.

Given the inter-disciplinary nature of Ostrom’s work, this book will be relevant to those working in the areas of environmental economics, political economy, political science and ecology.

Elinor Ostrom’s Nobel Prize-winning work on common pool property rights has implications for some of the most pressing sustainability issues of the twenty-first century — from tackling climate change to maintaining cyberspace. In this book, Derek Wall critically examines Ostrom’s work, while also exploring the following questions: is it possible to combine insights rooted in methodological individualism with a theory that stresses collectivist solutions? Is Ostrom’s emphasis on largely local solutions to climate change relevant to a crisis propelled by global factors?

This volume situates her ideas in terms of the constitutional analysis of her partner Vincent Ostrom and wider institutional economics. It outlines her key concerns, including a radical research methodology, commitment to indigenous people and the concept of social-ecological systems. Ostrom is recognised for producing a body of work which demonstrates how people can construct rules that allow them to exploit the environment in an ecologically sustainable way, without the need for governmental regulation, and this book argues that in a world where ecological realities increasingly threaten material prosperity, such scholarship provides a way of thinking about how humanity can create truly sustainable development.

Given the inter-disciplinary nature of Ostrom’s work, this book will be relevant to those working in the areas of environmental economics, political economy, political science and ecology.

''There is no alternative'' has been the unofficial mantra of the neoliberal order since its utterance by Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s. However, there is an alternative to our crisis-ridden, austerity-inflicted world - and not just one alternative, but many.Challenging the arguments for markets, mainstream economics and capitalism from Adam Smith onwards, Economics After Capitalism provides a step-by-step guide to various writers, movements and schools of thought, critical of neoliberal globalisation. These range from Keynesian-inspired reformists such as Geroge Soros and Joseph Stiglitz, critics of inequality like Thomas Piketty and Amaitya Sen, to more radical voices including Naomi Klein, Marxists such as David Harvey, anarchists, and autonomists including Toni Negri and Michael Hardt.By providing a clear and accessible guide to the economics of anti-capitalism, Derek Wall successfully demonstrates that an open source eco-socialist alternative to rampant climate change, elite rule and financial chaos is not just necessary, but possible.

Climate chaos and pollution, deforestation and consumerism: the crisis facing human civilization is clear enough. But the response of politicians to it has been cowardly and inadequate, while environmental activists have tended to favor single-issue campaigns rather than electoral politics.

The No-Nonsense Guide to Green Politics measures the rising tide of eco-activism and awareness and explains why it heralds a new political era worldwide.

Derek Wall is a former principal speaker of the British Green Party. He is the author of numerous books, including Babylon and Beyond: The Economics of Anti-Capitalist, Anti-Globalist and Radical Green Movements.