Editors EDWARD GOLDSMITH NICHOLAS HILDYARD
PETER BUNYARD PATRICK McCULLY Assistant Editors
SARAH SEXTON SIMON FAIRLIE Associate Editors
PATRICIA ADAMS Probe International
(Canada) MARCUS COLCHESTER World Rainforest Movement
(England) RAYMOND DASMANN University of California,
Santa Cruz (USA) SAMUEL S. EPSTEIN
University of Illinois
(USA) ROSS HUME HALL
(USA) SANDY IRVINE The Green Party
(England) MICK KELLY University ofEastAnglia
(England) MARTIN KHOR KOK PENG
Consumers Association of
Penang (Malaysia) SMITHU KOTHARI Lokayan Social Action
Croup (India) SIGMUND KVAL0Y Ecopolitical Ring of Cooperation
(Norway) LARRY LOHMANN
(USA) JOHN MILTON
(USA) JIMOH OMO-FADAKA African Environmental
Network (Kenya) JOHNPAPWORTH Fourth World Review
(England) ROBERT PRESCOTT-ALLEN
PADATA (Canada) JOHN SEED Rainforest Information Centre
(Australia) VANDANA SHIVA Research Centre for Science
and Ecology (India) HENRYK SKOLIMOWSKJ
University of Michigan
(USA) ROBERT WALLER Commonwealth Human Ecology Centre
(England) RICHARD WILLSON
(England) DONALD WORSTER University of Kansas
(USA) EDITORIAL OFFICE, AGRICULTURE HOUSE, BATH ROAD, STURMINSTER NEWTON, DORSET,
DT10 1DU, ENGLAND, UK. TEL +44-258-73476 FAX +44-258-73748
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The
Ecologis t Vol. 22, No. 4, July/August 1992
Whose Common Future?
A Specia l Issu e
The Earth Summit Debacle 122
The Commons: Where the Community Has Authority. 123 What constitutes a commons regime • How it operates • Who controls it • What distinguishes it from public management and private enter prise.
Development as Enclosure 131 Enclosure of commons over the last five centuries • In pre-industrial England • In the colonies • In the neo-colonial era • In the developed countries today.
The Encompassing Web 149 The many dimensions and compound effects of enclosure • The impact on values • Enclosure and forms of exchange • A new political order • Roles redefined • The emergence of experts • Enclosure, language and systems of knowledge.
Power: The Central Issue 157 The networks of power that combine to block any resurgence of the commons • The role of corporations in agriculture • The power of the transnationals • Global connections • How the powerful cope with the threat of environmentalism.
Mainstream Solutions: Further Enclosure 165 The Earth Summit's main responses to the environmental crisis • "Poverty is the problem" • "The earth's resources must be costed" • "The global environment must be managed" • "Populations must be controlled" • "Technology must be transferred from North to South" • "The flow of capital to the South must be increased".
Reclaiming the Commons 195 Communities around the world are determined to safeguard, to revive or to recreate their commons • Their land and environment • Their ver nacular knowledge • Their community-controlled markets • Their arenas for decision-making • The commons in everyday life.
A Concluding Remark 205
References 206 Cover photograph by Mark Edwards. The Ecologist is printed on recycled paper whitened with hydrogen peroxide
The Ecologist, Vol. 22, No. 4, July/August 1992
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