4.1.2 Commons' relationships with other provisioning institutions

The household is a group of people who live together in a shared space, or dwelling, and who have a strong personal responsibility to work together to meet each others’ needs. 

Households and commons are both systems of people with particular relationships, and a similar function: to self-organise to meet their members’ needs fairly and inclusively. Households are often the starting point for commons. For example, a neighbourhood garden might emerge from a group of families coming together to grow food in a shared space. The health of the resources in the commons depends on the care provided by people in households. Together, households manage and regenerate forests, farmland, bodies of water, and other shared forms of wealth. They participate in community decisions, maintaining and protecting the commons.

Commons, in turn,  support households, making them more resilient by (Figure 2):

• sharing resources: to lower living costs and conserve resources (there is no economic pressure to grow and acquire more);

• providing for essential human needs, independently of the state or market: commoning can meet people’s essential needs, maintaining support even when markets or the state fail (Figure 3);

Commons and markets have a complex relationship. While markets are based on private ownership and sell goods and services for a price, commons prioritise cooperation, shared use and stewardship of resources. These differences mean that commons can interact with markets in ways that create both tensions and mutual benefit.

On the other hand, commons and markets can coexist, each addressing different needs. For example, local seed banks managed in the commons maintain biodiversity that seed markets may ignore, serving needs that markets neglect and focusing on long-term sustainability instead of short-term profit. Commoning can also ensure that everyone in a community has access to basic needs, something that markets may not do because markets serve only those who are able to pay the price for a product.

The role of commons and markets in meeting needs also depends on the type of resource involved. It is easier for commons to share knowledge and creativity – through creative commons licences, for example – because knowledge and creative works aren’t depleted when shared. Economists call these types of shareable wealth nonrivalrous resources. In contrast, rivalrous resources, like forests or fisheries, are depleted with use. They need strict commons management to avoid the overuse that is often driven by market forces.

States can support or disrupt commons in a number of ways. For example, some state laws and policies protect commoning by legally recognising fishing or forest management rights for indigenous communities. In Mexico, legally recognized ejidos (community landholdings) allow local communities to manage forests and farms, demonstrating that states can play a positive role when they respect community governance and local knowledge. More state strategies to support commoning are discussed in Section 4.4.3.

But other state policies can undermine commoning by legally privatising shared resources through enclosure (Figure 5), or enforcing regulations that clash with local traditions. States may do this under pressure from investors or businesses that want to own and sell commons resources. This pressure is called political capture. Political capture of state lawmakers and regulators are more of a threat to commoning as wealth and income inequality increases, since economically powerful people and businesses can influence state laws and regulations to their own financial benefit (Section 3.2.2).

While every commons is unique, they all share core values: cooperation, fairness, and collective stewardship. This adaptability is why commons have persisted for centuries and why they’re more than just an alternative to markets or the state—they’re a vital way of living that connects people with each other and the resources they depend on. 

Concept: Systems

Skills: Reflection

Time: ca. 25+ minutes (depends on how much discussion ensues)

Type: Individual, pairs, or small group

Option 1: Commons in your life

You might not know it, but you may already be involved in commoning in your own life. Think about what you read towards the start of the section on “What are the commons?”

• Can you identify one or more activities in your life that would be classified as commoning? If so, what is the resource, who is in the community, and what are the rules?

• Do you know about commoning happening in your community, even if you do not participate in it? If so, what is the resource, who is in the community, and what are the rules?

• Collect your ideas with other students in your class and compare your experiences.

• How might these commoning activities work differently if the state or businesses in markets were in charge of them, rather than self-organised people in the community?

Option 2: Kenyan farmers’ fight for seed sovereignty

• Watch the short (3 min) video below about a proposed law in Kenya that bans farmers from sharing and exchanging indigenous seeds.

• Read this article, which provides some additional viewpoints: Kenya’s push for a purely formal seed system could be bad for farmers

• Individually, or in small groups or as a class, consider the following questions:

  • What is the commons in this case? Consider the resource, the community, and the rules. 

  • What does this story illustrate about the relationships between the commons, households, market and state?

  • In whose interest(s) is the law banning farmers from exchanging seeds? Why might the state pass such a law?

  • How could businesses in markets, and the state, act differently to support the commoning related to seeds? How is strengthening seed commoning related to the goal of meeting human needs within planetary boundaries?

  • This video was published in October 2024. There may have been further developments in this case since then. Do some quick research to find out what has happened.

Ideas for longer activities and projects are listed in Subtopic 4.5 Taking action

• David Bollier 4/7 - The Relationship of Markets and Commons - a short video from Leuphana Digital School with commons expert David Bollier explaining how markets can threaten the commons. Difficulty level: medium

• Gaming for the commons: Commonspoly - a site that explains how a new game called Commonspoly (like Monopoly but for the commons) was developed. The website for purchasing or downloading (free) the game can be found at Commonspoly. Difficulty level: easy/medium

• Frontiers of Commoning - a podcast hosted by David Bollier exploring the many examples of commoning from around the world. Difficulty level: medium/high

Bollier. D. (2021). The Commoners Catalog For Changemaking: Tools for the Transitions Ahead.  https://commonerscatalog.org/

Bollier, D. and Helfrich, S. (2019). “1. Commons and Commoning,” in Free, Fair and Alive: The Insurgent Power of the Commons. Gabriola Island: New Society Publishers. 

Bollier, D.  (2025). Think Like a Commoner, 2nd edition. Gabriola Island: New Society Publishers. https://www.thinklikeacommoner.com/

 — “The Seeding Sharing Solution,” Bollier.org [David Bollier’s blog], January 19, 2011. https://www.bollier.org/seed-sharing-solution

Link to Quizlet interactive flashcards and terminology games for Section 4.1.2 Commons' relationships with other provisioning institutions

commons: a system where people self-organise to co-produce and manage shared resources.

system: a set of interdependent parts that organise to create a functional whole

ecosystem: the interaction of groups of organisms with each other and their physical environment

culture: the beliefs, values, attitudes, behaviours and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next

economy: all the human-made systems that transfer and transform energy and matter to meet human needs and wants

sustainability: meeting people’s needs within the means of the planet

provisioning institution: a group of people and their relationships as they try to meet human needs and wants

household: a system where people living together care for each other and do domestic work, often termed the 'core economy'

market: a system where people buy and sell goods and services for a price.

state: a system that provides essential public services, and also governs and regulates other economic institutions

dwelling: a physical space where people live

care: the act of providing what is necessary for the health, welfare, upkeep, and protection of someone or something

regenerate: the process of restoring and revitalising something

wealth: the total value (stock) of someone’s assets such as money, house, or investments

gender equality: when people of different genders are treated equally

empowerment: the process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one's life and claiming one's rights

intrahousehold bargaining: the negotiation among household members around resources, responsibilities, and decisions

norm: a social rule for accepted and expected behaviour, can be stated or unstated

stewardship: the job of supervising or taking care of something, such as an organisation or ecosystem

capital asset: assets or valuable resources used to generate income

income: money received from work or investments

power: the ability to influence events or the behaviour of other people

private property: the ownership of property by private individuals and groups

coding capital: the process where the state declares something as private property through law

enclosure: the process that ended traditional rights on common land formerly held in the open field system and restricted the use of land to the owner

culture: the beliefs, values, attitudes, behaviours and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next

colonisation: a process of establishing foreign control over a land area and/or peoples for the purpose of resource use and extraction

indigenous community: the original settlers of an area (pre-invasion/colonialism) who have retained their culture apart from colonisers

marketisation: the introduction of market principles and mechanisms into traditionally non-market-based sectors

biodiversity: the variety of living organisms on Earth

sustainability: meeting people’s needs within the means of the planet

profit: total revenue minus total cost

creative commons licence: one of several public copyright licences that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted work

nonrivalrous resources: a resource where the consumption of the good by one person does not reduce the amount available for others

rivalrous resources: a resource where the consumption of the good by one person reduces the amount available for others

policy: a course or principle of action adopted or proposed by an organization or individual

privatise: to transfer (a business, property or service) from public to private ownership and control

regulation: a rule that guides individual or group behaviour and enforced by an authority

investor: an individual that puts money into an entity such as a business for a financial return

political capture: when the government prioritises the interests of economically powerful groups over the general interests of the public

wealth: the total value (stock) of someone’s assets such as money, house, or investments

income inequality: when there are differences in income levels between people

climate: the weather conditions that are normal for an area over a long period

civic engagement: all the ways that people take action together to address issues of public concern

ecosystem: the interaction of groups of organisms with each other and their physical environment

resilient: able to recover after a disturbance

stewardship: the job of supervising or taking care of something, such as an organisation or ecosystem