Daniel Mishori

The Commons

Course Description:

One of the most important and prolific concepts in environmental social discourse today is the commons. This concept provides new framework for environmental justice, and is an attempt to redraw the map of relationships between the market economy, society and environment. This concept first appeared in the environmental discourse as an answer to the question regarding the source of the ecological crisis. Biologist Garrett Hardin argued that the environmental crisis is inevitable because natural resources are managed as a shared resource. This phenomenon has been called by Hardin, "The tragedy of the commons". Proposals to "solve" the tragedy through privatization were described by critics and historians as creating another "tragedy": enclosure. These concepts -- the commons and enclosure – became also key concepts in the discourse of copyright and intellectual property in the digital and intellectual domains of the Internet, regarding "open source" and "free" software, copyrights, patents, scientific research, and more. Major emphasis will be given to issues related to public space and natural resources. The course will address recent examples of social-environmental struggles in Israel.