scholarly journals The commons as a paradigm shift for a regenerative

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paulo Magalhães ◽  
Álvaro Costa ◽  
Gabriela Morello ◽  
Ana Luísa Guimarães ◽  
José Viegas
Keyword(s):  
Common Good ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Global Public Good ◽  
International Governance ◽  
Common Concern ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The Commons ◽  
The Common ◽  
International Legal System ◽  
Negative Impacts

As the Earth System's trajectory approaches an irreversible path towards a "Hothouse Earth", societies remain unable to collectively ensure the maintenance of a stable climate. Nearly 30 years have passed after climate change was considered a Common Concern of Humankind, a status that remains the legal framework adopted by the Paris Agreement. A stable climate is a manifestation of the stable and well-defined functioning of the Earth System. Although intangible, a stable climate exists in the real world and is necessarily a common good for being limited, exhaustible, and non-excludable. Thus, a congruent system between the rules of appropriation (negative impacts) and provision of the global public good (positive impacts) is necessary for the effective management of the common good – stable climate. However, in the current legal framework that considers a stable climate a Common Concern of Humankind, a stable climate is invisible to our international legal system and economy, which makes it impossible for it to become an object of international governance. Here, the authors argue that the recognition of a stable climate as the Common Heritage of Humankind is the first and fundamental step for being able to act towards restoring and maintaining a stable climate.

Vickers Hot Springs

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Jennifer M. Bernstein
Keyword(s):  
Common Good ◽  
Common Property ◽  
Hot Springs ◽  
Public Access ◽  
Common Property Resource ◽  
Resource Conflict ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
The Commons ◽  
Local Residents ◽  
The Common

Vickers Hot Springs is located near the rural Southern California town of Ojai, and local residents have long enjoyed soaking in the sulfuric pools. But as knowledge of the springs spread, the area saw increases in fights, traffic, burglaries, and drug use. In response, two residents purchased the land and committed to restore the property while allowing limited public access, subsequently generating a great deal of controversy within the community. Privatizing Vickers Hot Springs follows the archetypical lesson of Garrett Hardin's 1968 essay, “The Tragedy of the Commons.” Hardin stated that the problem for common-pool resources was that a finite amount of services are demanded by a potentially infinite number of users, who have little to gain by sacrificing for the common good. But Hardin's theory does not always apply. Many communities have come together to manage resources, often without government oversight. Thus, the question is not whether or not Hardin's theory is accurate, but rather “under what conditions it is correct and when it makes the wrong predictions.” Case studies provide nuance to the broad brushstrokes of a theory, and whether Hardin's parable is applicable depends on the particularities of the common property resource conflict. Employing the frameworks established by Hardin, Dietz et al., and Ostrom, this paper examines the management of Vickers Hot Springs within its broader social, ecological, and political context, asking whether the particular circumstances of this resource use conflict made privatization the most predictable outcome.

scholarly journals THE IDEALISM OF DIALOGUE AND THE ECONOMY OF THE COMMONS

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 14-27
Author(s):  
Fernando Suárez Müller ◽  
Christian Felber
Keyword(s):  
Economic Model ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Ethical Values ◽  
Governmental Organization ◽  
Cooperative Action ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
Private Interests ◽  
The Commons ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Impact

This paper explores the possibility of an economic system different from both capitalism and communism, that is based on the major ethical values that constitute the principles of human dialogue, the so-called Idealism of Dialogue. This implies an economic model based on cooperativism. An economy modelled in this way envisions the Common Good of society. This is more than the sum of the interests of individuals and it can be measured by looking at the intended impact on society of actions taken by organizations. If the impact of these organizations is oriented towards cooperative action they can be characterized as developing the Common Good. If they block cooperative action they can be seen to be serving private interests. This paper shows how a group of Austrian entrepreneurs has started a network of enterprises that functions both as a kind of cooperative and as a non-governmental organization (Gemeinwohl-Ökonomie). They promote the ideals of Greek oỉkonomía and at the same time consider their own efforts to be the accomplishment of the main principles of Enlightenment which are liberty, equality and fraternity. 

scholarly journals Catholic Social Teaching as an Explanation of Firm Environmental Impact

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 161-179
Author(s):  
Anne Hetson ◽  
Brian M. Saxton ◽  
Mariah Webinger ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Environmental Performance ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Catholic Social Teaching ◽  
Social Teaching ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The Common ◽  
Economic Needs

Environmental sustainability in business has become a highly debated topic as societies decide how best to meet their economic needs and care for the earth. Catholic social teaching (CST) may add theoretical richness to the discussion. We examine solidarity, subsidiarity, and pursuit of the common good as dimensions of a heavy manufacturing, U.S.-based firm’s CST orientation. We find that measures of subsidiarity and common good predict a firm’s environmental performance consistent with CST principles. Results are of interest to academics, policymakers, and citizens who wish to advance the implementation of CST, environmental sustainability, or both.

scholarly journals Climate as a Concern or a Heritage? Addressing the legal structural roots of climate emergency

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-134
Author(s):  
Paulo Magalhães
Keyword(s):  
Common Good ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Governance System ◽  
Paper Briefly ◽  
Common Concern ◽  
Structural Roots ◽  
The Common

When, in the 1980s, climate change entered into the UN agenda, the first question raised was: "What is the climate from a legal point of view?" After the Maltese proposal of 1988 to recognize “Climate as Common Heritage of Humankind”, the adopted UN resolution considered climate as “common concern of humanity”. The concern approach has transformed the positive approach of the Maltese initiative on “the heritage” into a negative approach of a damage containment and sharing system with an undefined obligation to cooperate. This fact makes it technically impossible to build an economy capable of producing positive impacts to recover a well-functioning of the Earth System, and consequently a stable climate. The fact is it fails to build an economic and governance system around the maintenance in a favorable condition of a common good that although intangible exists in natural world and is the very support of life. This paper briefly explores the legal origin of the climate negotiating deadlock resulting from the common concern approach, and the economic and social consequences of the legal non-existence of climate, i.e. a well-functioning Earth System, and points out to the concept of heritage as a way to overcome the obstacles that have prevented collective action.

The German family foundation: concept, legal framework, and taxation

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 534-541
Author(s):  
Maximilian Haag ◽  
Michael Tischendorf
Keyword(s):  
Common Good ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Estate Planning ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
Wealth Management ◽  
German Family ◽  
Asset Protection ◽  
The Common ◽  
Business Succession ◽  
Family Foundations

Abstract Most German foundations serve the common good. Nevertheless, setting up a private foundation in Germany has proven to be a valuable instrument in private wealth management and estate planning. About 5% of all German foundations are the so-called family foundations with the purpose of serving the interests of one or more families. There are numerous possible areas of application, such as business succession, asset protection, estate planning, and/or use of tax advantages. This article is intended to describe the concept of the German family foundation, its establishment, constitution, and termination, as well as its taxation, in order to provide an overview of its advantages, disadvantages, and possible applications. The German non-profit foundation shall not be discussed.

Incipient “commoning” in defense of the public?

Focaal ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 (79) ◽  
pp. 54-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Morgen ◽  
Jennifer Erickson
Keyword(s):  
Identity Politics ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Public Services ◽  
The State ◽  
Socially Responsible ◽  
Ballot Initiative ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Sector Unions ◽  
The Commons ◽  
The Common

This article examines the development of competing forms of fiscal citizenship in Oregon tax-related ballot initiative campaigns between 1970 and 2010. Antitax advocates constructed a “taxpayer identity politics” that positioned a privatized “taxpayer” against representatives of the state, recipients of public services, and public sector unions. In response, a progressive coalition produced an alternative citizen—the “Oregonian,” a socially responsible taxpayer/citizen who supports and defends public services and values a “common good.” “Incipient commoning” emerges as support for “the common good” through discourse about community and belonging that is more and other than, though in relation to, the state. Attention to how “publics” conceive of themselves suggests that concepts like the “the commons” already circulate in the imaginaries and vocabularies of advocates resisting neoliberal policies.

scholarly journals Rethinking International Legal Narrative Concerning Nineteenth Century China: Seeking China’s Intellectual Connection to International Law

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Xiaoshi Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
International Law ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
International Governance ◽  
Future Outlook ◽  
Legal Studies ◽  
Nation States ◽  
International Legal System ◽  
Tributary System

Abstract The standard of civilization is haunting international legal studies. The problem remains whether the non-Western traditions are legitimate sources for international governance. Although legal scholars sometimes approach international law from different perspectives or from a particular experience, at last, they are still writing about one international law that are supposed to apply to all nation-states without differentiation. The future outlook of international law partly depends on if there are real and lasting Asian intellectual connections with international law and whether the Asian inspirations could find their expression in the existing international legal framework. After exploring the existing discourse on China’s reception of international law in the nineteenth century, the paper suggests that Qing China’s statesmen had a vision for co-existence of international legal system and the China oriented tributary system.

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