Conference Theme:
The Commons in an Age of Globalisation
1.0 The Theme
The theme and title for the conference is "The Commons in an Age of
Globalisation". Globalisation is a pervasive characteristic of the new
millennium and highly topical in terms of the attention now being given
it in the social and ecological sciences. It is seen as "the latest stage
of a process where technological, economic, ecological, cultural and
military trends, traditionally observable on a geographically limited
scale and scope, are extended to the entire globe," leading to "the
emergence of new players with new and different (power) relationships
among them" (Finger, 1999: 1). Finger suggests that this process has
eroded the centrality of the nation state, and also notes that "this new
global institutional reality is, however, paralleled by a corresponding
process of localisation, characterised mainly by its defensiveness and
reactiveness" (ibd.: 9).
Finger's critique is a challenge to IASCP scholarship that cannot be
ignored. With its affinities for processes of localisation, Common
Property Theory cannot afford to be "characterised mainly by its
defensiveness and reactiveness," nor can it ignore new configurations of
institutional and organisational relationships that link the local with
the global. For the "developing world," the asymmetrical power dimensions
of these relationships are of particular relevance, not only in terms of
economic and political dominance but also in terms of the cultural and
conceptual hegemony associated with globalisation.
For these reasons, the conference theme "The Commons in an Age of
Globalisation" should be looked from a broader perspective. Globalisation
should not be restricted to just natural resource management, but should
also include:
Issues of governance, economic systems and hidden values, tourism
and global ideology.
Trade regimes and globalisation; issues of carbon sinks and
climatic change.
Diversity versus uniformity and the prescriptive rules of joining
the global market (liberal democracy); scale issues and nested hierarchies.
Intellectual property rights and tenure.
Problems of acceptance and resistance of globalisation and the
role of international markets as drivers.
Globalisation - in the state versus local common property
resource (whose interest does the state serve?).
Globalisation as econo-centric and its relationship to
sustainable use.
Cultural diversity, marginalisation and globalisation links.
To further pursue this theme seven subthemes are suggested below.
Sub-Themes(Click here for details of Sub-Themes)
Globalisation, Governance and the Commons
Globalisation, Culture and the Commons
"Protected Areas" in Constituting the Commons
Land and Resource Tenure Reform and the Commons in an Era of
Globalisation
New Analytic Tools for Common Property Resource Management
Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Integrity of Commons and Emerging
Regimes of Intellectual Property Rights in a Globalising World
Trans-boundary natural resource management and the commons
