The Commons Catastrophe How capitalism is catastrophical and Participatory Economics offers hope Daniël Hemink Student number: 0563765 Supervisor: dhr. dr. P.A. Raekstad Second reader: dhr. dr. S. Rezaeiejan June, 2017 Master Thesis Political Science, track: International Relations Acknowledgements I should like to express my most sincere gratitude to my supervisor, dhr. dr. Paul Raekstad, who was most helpful in constructing my thesis. Paul was as generous with his time as he was with his advice. I preferred dhr. dr. Said Reazadjian as a second reader, for Said is an inspiring lecturer and sympathetic man. Both gentlemen have had a positive influence on my critical and creative thinking. I enjoyed the studies Political Science and History at the University of Amsterdam. I want to thank the staff of the UvA, my fellow students, and my family and friends who were close to me in both the good times and bad. I dedicate this thesis to the anonymous writer of this 17th century poem: The law locks up the man or woman Who steals the goose off the common But leaves the greater villain loose Who steals the common from the goose The law demands that we atone When we take things we do not own But leaves the lords and ladies fine Who takes things that are yours and mine The poor and wretched don’t escape If they conspire the law to break This must be so but they endure Those who conspire to make the law The law locks up the man or woman Who steals the goose from off the common And geese will still a common lack Till they go and steal it back 2 Abstract There is abundant evidence which shows that capitalism does not work well: returning crises, growing inequality and degradation of our environment. This thesis argues that within capitalism we are facing a ‘Commons Catastrophe’ (CC). This catastrophe is in multiple ways related to how we deal with everything we share: the commons and the community are disrupted and our ecosystem is in grave danger. A CC occurs, if: [1] A sequence of events that disrupts the commons and the community occurs and/or [2] Unsustainable levels of ecological degradation are reached which risk the complete destruction of the world we live in. Because of the CC in capitalism, it is imperative to envision and install alternative models of society. This thesis puts Participatory Economics (Parecon) forward as a viable alternative to capitalism. The primary purpose of this study is to determine to what extent Parecon could prevent a CC. The secondary purpose of this thesis is to show how mainstream economic discourse promotes capitalism and objects participatory models. This thesis has a tripartite structure. First the newly coined, disjunctive concept of CC is presented. After that, it is investigated to what extent capitalism leads to a CC. In the second part of this thesis, the viability of Parecon as an alternative to capitalism is examined. In the third and final part, it is investigated to what extent Parecon could forestall a CC. It is theoretically plausible that Parecon could forestall a CC because of the social ownership of the commons. In Parecon, the community –in contrast to the state or private parties- has economic decision-making power and incorporates social costs and social benefits in its deliberations. Parecon upholds economic democracy, economic justice and human solidarity. Parecon opposes mainstream economic discourse and entails a positive notion of the commons and the community. Keywords: capitalism, Commons Catastrophe, Participatory Economics, economic democracy, economic justice, human solidarity, ecological sustainability, social ownership, community. 3 Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 6 Research Question .................................................................................................................. 6 Conceptualisation ................................................................................................................... 6 Historical Discourse ............................................................................................................... 7 Thesis Outline ......................................................................................................................... 9 Relevance .............................................................................................................................. 11 1. The Commons Catastrophe .................................................................................................. 12 1.1 History and Discourse of the Commons and Capitalism ................................................ 13 1.1.1 Tragedy of the commons and other conventional concepts. .................................... 14 1.1.2 Life, Liberty and property. ....................................................................................... 14 1.1.3 The Second Enclosure. ............................................................................................. 16 1.1.4 New movements, new commons. ............................................................................ 17 1.2 The Destructive Logic of Capitalism .............................................................................. 20 1.2.1 Capitalism as natural state and the freedom myth. ................................................... 21 1.2.2 Capitalism means market dependence. .................................................................... 23 1.2.3 Market enclosure. ..................................................................................................... 24 1.3 Ecological Degradation & Capitalism’s Crisis Management ......................................... 28 1.3.1 Planetary boundaries. ............................................................................................... 28 1.3.2 Green capitalism. ..................................................................................................... 29 1.3.3 Neoliberal crisis management. ................................................................................. 30 2. Parecon: a Viable Alternative to Capitalism ........................................................................ 32 2.1 There Is No Alternative? ................................................................................................ 32 2.2 Parecon ........................................................................................................................... 33 2.2.1 Goals. ....................................................................................................................... 33 2.2.2 Institutions. ............................................................................................................... 34 2.3 Objections to Parecon ..................................................................................................... 37 4 2.4 Examples of Participatory Movements ........................................................................... 41 3. Parecon and the Commons Catastrophe ............................................................................... 43 3.1 How Does Parecon Prevent a CC [1]? ............................................................................ 43 3.1.1 How does Parecon deals with the commons? .......................................................... 44 3.1.2 Does Parecon disrupts the community? ................................................................... 45 3.2 How does Parecon prevent a CC [2]? ............................................................................. 48 3.3 Reservations .................................................................................................................... 50 3.4 Answer to Garret Hardin and Elinor Ostrom .................................................................. 50 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 53 What I Did Not Do ............................................................................................................... 54 Summary Part 1 .................................................................................................................... 54 Summary Part 2 .................................................................................................................... 56 Summary Part 3 .................................................................................................................... 58 Place in Debate ..................................................................................................................... 58 Further Research ................................................................................................................... 59 Final Remarks ....................................................................................................................... 61 Literature .................................................................................................................................. 63 5 Introduction Capitalism is catastrophical. The market system disrupts the society and leads to an ecological disaster. Whether it is the depletion of common resources like oil or the pollution of the global commons like the ecosystem: the current catastrophe is intrinsically related to the commons. Capitalism leads to the disruption of society and deteriorates what we hold in common. To elucidate this process, I coin the term Commons Catastrophe