Berge, Erling. 1995. "A Prolegomena to 'Reinventing the Commons'." Presented at a plenary session at "Reinventing the Commons," the fifth annual conference of the International Association for the Study of Common Property, Bodoe, Norway, May 24-28, 1995.

Abstract

"The program committee has chosen the theme 'Reinventing the Commons.' Commons have existed throughout all recorded history as an integral part of the resource management of local communities. With the emergence of the modern state and the capitalist economies, the commons of local communities around the world found themselves in a loosing battle with advocates of state ownership or individual ownership. The traditional knowledge embodied in the well established institutional frameworks was not cast in a form understandable to the bureaucrats of the state even in the cases where the bureaucrats might be willing to consider them on their merits. And often enough they were not cast in a form which made them adaptable to a changing environment. To survive, the practical knowledge of the benefits of commons have to be recast in the analytical language of academic disciplines."