Meet James Quilligan, Commons theorist/activist and policy analyst

"Modern economics has turned labour into a utility of the market and government. But the principles of the commons (people’s negotiation of their own norms and rules for the management of social and natural resources) show us how to transcend utilitarian economics by transforming the traditional division of labour. New forms of value are already being created by these commons, whether they are traditional (irrigation ditches, pastures, indigenous cultures) or emerging (intellectual property, social networks, collaborative innovation)."

In that context James Quilligan, renowned commons theorist/activist and policy analyst will talk about MANAGING the LOCAL and GLOBAL COMMONS sharing his latest cutting edge thinking. This is the 2nd event in our series of Meetings with Remarkable Commoners. This seminar demonstrates how:

• consumers become the producers of their own resources

• trusts set a cap on the extraction and use of a resource to preserve it for future generations

• businesses flourish by renting a proportion of the resources outside the cap for extraction and production

• governments tax a percentage of these rents, funding a basic income for citizens and the restoration of depleted resources

• the power of decision-making returns to the people, enabling them to participate in the decisions that affect them directly

• the traditional property ownership model is eclipsed by a trusteeship model of sustainability, quality of life and well-being

• the lessons of community-based resource management have major implications for post-liberal forms of multilateralism and global governance.