Political ecology III: The commons and commoning
Published online on August 26, 2016
Abstract
Different intellectual strands within political ecology have analyzed changing forms of property institutions and the commons in particular. While engaging these topics from a number of different perspectives, they share common understandings of property rights as relational, contested, and shaped by broader political economies. What is less acknowledged is that political ecologists have, in different ways, studied the hybrid and mixed forms of property institutions that are often concealed or ignored in the tripartite division of private, common, and national properties that dominates institutionalist literatures. These theoretical commitments and research experiences are well-suited for understanding the proliferation of hybrid property institutions associated with neoliberal forms of governance. By briefly reviewing their synergies, this report seeks to bring these diverse strands in conversation. It concludes by highlighting useful avenues of political ecological research and practice that are raised by commoning scholarship and activism.