From Land Ownership to Landed Commons

Reviews / Votes

'This magisterial work will surely become a landmark in the scholarship of landed commons. It deftly synthesizes a vast literature while opening up fresh vistas of understanding, balancing general lessons with complicated details. The result is a rich, broad-spectrum portrait of commons that includes a history of land ownership, contemporary case studies, and attention to the micro-social dynamics of commoning, as well as critical lessons (and limitations) of Ostrom's commons research, anarchism, political ecology, and Marxism. Highly recommended!' -- David Bollier, Schumacher Center for a New Economics, US 'How is the commons of the Commons related to the commons of the common good? Focusing on the Landed Commons, this book provides enlightening and original answers to this fundamental question. In addition to a helpful critical discussion of concepts and literature, and a positive proposal for a new direction combining justification theory, interactionism and social psychology, the book is particularly noteworthy for the in-depth fieldwork carried out through action research for social innovation in a wide range of commoning domains. By building bridges between analytical frameworks and tried-and-tested practices of commoning, the book offers an indispensable guide for those interested not only in theoretical debates and analytical frameworks, but also in how best to collectively conduct and govern a commoning activity.' -- Laurent Thevenot, School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences, France 'At a time when the contradiction between land stewardship and land speculation in public policy is at the centre of heated debates, this book offers both key international historical insights as well as Belgium-based case studies to all those interested in changing the historical course of land ownership and in building landed Commons through an institutionalist pathway.' -- Chiara Tornaghi, Coventry University, UK