Can Commons Be the Basis for System-wide Change?

Excerpt from David Bollier:

"It is fair to wonder whether commons — historically small-scale, decentralized 

systems — can be the basis for a larger, macro-solution. We believe they can so long as we develop a new legal and policy architecture that recognizes and supports the nesting of authority and control at different levels of governance (often known as “subsidiarity”).

But we could as plausibly turn the question around: can any top-down, macro-solution succeed without genuine engagement with decentralized, participatory, self-organized systems? We think not. There is too much resentment around the world against State authority experienced as illegitimate, and the simple incompetence of State institutions in dealing with decentralized complexity.

In subsequent essays, we hope to explain in greater detail how the general framework and discourse of Green Governance could open some compelling pathways – economically, politically and culturally – for societal transformation."