Balancing the Commons in Switzerland

Balancing the Commons in Switzerland Balancing the Commons in Switzerland outlines continuity and change in the management of common-pool resources such as pastures and forests in Switzerland. The book focuses on the differences and similarities between local institutions (rules and regulations) and forms of commoners’ organisations (corporations of citizens and corporations) which have managed common property for several centuries and have shaped the cultural landscapes of Switzerland. At the core of the book are fve case studies from the German, French and Italian speaking regions of Switzerland. Beginning in the Late Middle Ages and focusing on the transformative periods in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it traces the internal and external political, economic and societal changes and examines what impact these changes had on commoners. It goes beyond the work of Robert Netting and Elinor Ostrom, who discussed Swiss commons as a unique case of robustness, by analysing how local commoners reacted to, but also shaped, changes by adapting and transforming common property institutions. Thus, the volume highlights how institutional changes in the management of the commons at the local level are embedded in the public policies of the respective cantons, and the state, which generates a high heterogeneity and an actual laboratory situation. It shows the power relations and very different routes that local collective organisations and their members have followed in order to cope with the loss of value of the commons and the increased workload for maintaining common property management. Providing insightful case studies of commons management, this volume delivers theoretical contributions and lessons to be learned for the commons worldwide. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of the commons, natural resource management and agricultural development. Tobias Haller is Professor in Social Anthropology and Managing Director of the Institute of Social Anthropology, University of Bern, Switzerland. He is the leading author of The Commons in a Glocal World (Routledge, 2019). Karina Liechti is a Senior Research Scientist at the Centre for Development and Environment CDE and at the Institute of Social Anthropology, University of Bern, Switzerland. Martin Stuber is Senior Scientist at the Institute of History, University of Bern, Switzerland. François-Xavier Viallon is a Political Scientist at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. Rahel Wunderli is a Postdoctoral Assistant at the Institute of History, University of Bern, Switzerland. Earthscan Studies in Natural Resource Management Governing Renewable Natural Resources Theories and Frameworks Edited by Fiona Nunan Interdisciplinary Collaboration for Water Diplomacy A Principled and Pragmatic Approach Edited by Shafqul Islam and Kevin M. Smith Peatlands Ecology, Conservation and Heritage Ian D. Rotherham The Moroccan Argan Trade Producer Networks and Human Bio-Geographies Daniel F. Robinson Fair and Equitable Beneft-Sharing in Agriculture Reinventing Agrarian Justice Elsa Tsioumani Participatory Governance of UNESCO Biosphere Reserves in Canada and Israel Resolving Natural Resource Conficts Natasha Donevska Balancing the Commons in Switzerland Institutional Transformations and Sustainable Innovations Edited by Tobias Haller, Karina Liechti, Martin Stuber, François-Xavier Viallon and Rahel Wunderli For more information on books in this series, please visit: www .routledge.com/books/series/ECNRM/ Balancing the Commons in Switzerland Institutional Transformations and Sustainable Innovations Edited by Tobias Haller, Karina Liechti, Martin Stuber, François-Xavier Viallon and Rahel Wunderli First published in English 2021 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2021 selection and editorial matter, Tobias Haller, Karina Liechti, Martin Stuber, François-Xavier Viallon and Rahel Wunderli; individual chapters, the contributors The right of Tobias Haller, Karina Liechti, Martin Stuber, François-Xavier Viallon and Rahel Wunderli to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This book is an output of a project funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation [grant CR11I1_166334] called SCALES (Sustainable Commons Adaptations to Landscape Ecosystems in Switzerland) (PI Prof. Dr. Tobias Haller, Institute of Social Anthropology, University of Bern, Switzerland) All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Haller, Tobias, editor. Title: Balancing the commons in Switzerland: institutional transformations and sustainable innovations/edited by Tobias Haller [and four others]. Description: Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, 2021. | Series: Earthscan studies in natural resource management | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2020045648 (print) | LCCN 2020045649 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Commons–Switzerland–Management. | Natural resources, Communal–Switzerland. Classification: LCC HD1289.S9 B35 2021 (print) | LCC HD1289.S9 (ebook) | DDC 333.2–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020045648 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020045649 ISBN: 978-0-367-48873-4 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-04326-3 (ebk) Typeset in Bembo by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India Contents Prologue: Why Switzerland ix JON MATHIEU 1 Ostrom’s legacy of robustness and the ‘Swiss commons lab’: Introductory refections on change and power in commons studies 1 TOBIAS HALLER, JEAN-DAVID GERBER, KARINA LIECHTI, STÉPHANE NAHRATH, CHRISTIAN ROHR, MARTIN STUBER, FRANÇOIS-XAVIER VIALLON AND RAHEL WUNDERLI PART I Disciplinary approaches and theoretical refections 15 2 Transformations of common pastures and woodlands in Switzerland: A historical perspective 17 MARTIN STUBER AND RAHEL WUNDERLI 3 How do the commons meet the state? A political science perspective 35 FRANÇOIS-XAVIER VIALLON AND STÉPHANE NAHRATH 4 Commons and peasant studies: Insights from social anthropology, human geography and agrarian economics 45 TOBIAS HALLER, KARINA LIECHTI AND STEFAN MANN PART II Case studies 61 5 Scopes and challenges of a huge corporation over time: The case of the Korporation Uri (Canton Uri) 63 RAHEL WUNDERLI viii Contents 6 Urban commons in Alpine areas: The case of the Brgergemeinde Chur (Canton Grisons) 105 MARTIN STUBER 7 Transformation, diversifcation, partnerships: The case of the Sarnen commoners’ organisations (Canton Obwalden) 147 KARINA LIECHTI 8 Weak commons management, strong identity: The case of Val d’Anniviers (Canton Valais) 189 FRANÇOIS-XAVIER VIALLON 9 A fragile balance?: The case of pasture and forest management in Olivone (Canton Ticino) 234 MARK BERTOGLIATI PART III Synthesis 275 10 Transformation and diversity: Synthesis of the case studies 277 TOBIAS HALLER, MARK BERTOGLIATI, KARINA LIECHTI, MARTIN STUBER, FRANÇOIS-XAVIER VIALLON AND RAHEL WUNDERLI Index 301 Prologue: Why Switzerland Balancing the Commons in Switzerland – the title of the present book refers to another book, published 40 years ago by the American anthropologist Robert McC. Netting: Balancing on an Alp: Ecological Change and Continuity in a Swiss Mountain Community (1981). It was a study of the mountain village of Trbel in the Swiss Canton of Valais from the Early Modern Period. Netting dealt with many topics of village life, among others the long-term history of communal property in alpine pastures and forests. Communal tenure proved to be a stable, sustainable way of using natural resources. In Trbel, it had been functioning for centuries without ending in the cul-de-sac predicted by the modern-day economic theory of the “Tragedy of the commons”. This case of robust local cooperation, backed by solid historical documents, was selected as a prime example by the political scientist Elinor Ostrom to illustrate her counter-arguments in the Nobel Prize–winning book Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action (1990). Since then the remote place in the Swiss Alps has become a positive symbol of international research into commons and the political hopes and concerns attached to them. The present book builds on this distinguished tradition and transcends it by giving a much fuller picture of the trajectories of common-pool resources in these mountain regions. It is an important, welcome contribution to the multidis- ciplinary discussion about sustainable development and to related discussions about biodiversity and cultural landscapes in a changing world. In order to understand the starting point, let us briefy recall Netting’s approach. He began his successful academic career with feldwork in Nigeria. Inspired

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