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Transhumanism
Sexing borders
The promise of the commons
Environmental justice
Critique of web 2.0
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Introduction – The promise of the commons
The dichotomy between the private and the public forms the basis of theories of democracy. In recent years, this distinction has been challenged: examples include the erosion of the public sphere by private interests and the increasing control of the private domain by state authorities. New concepts and practices that move beyond this primary dichotomy are needed in order to face the contemporary crisis of democratic societies. Signifying a new social and economic space beyond government regulation and market control, the commons has been proposed as a feasible institutional alternative to both private and public arrangements. This special issue explores the openings that the concept of the ‘commons’ presents for democratic theory and practice.
Richard Stallman – The free software movement
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Free software changes the way value is produced, argues Richard Stallman, because the business or worker can make the software do what he or she wants it to do. It alters patterns of innovation by inviting everyone to participate |
Douglas Rushkoff – Commons: Creating an alternative value system
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How possible is it for us to create value for one another without the intervention of government or corporate interests? Douglas Rushkoff explains the commons as the rising of a set of behaviors that generate an alternative value |
Michel Bauwens – Peer production, peer governance, peer property
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Our current political economy is based on a fundamental mistake, points Michel Bauwens. It is based on the assumption that natural resources are unlimited, and that it is an endless sink. In a P2P-based society, this situation is reversed: the limits of natural resources are recognized, and the abundance of immaterial resources becomes the core operating principle. |
Lawrence Lessig – Creative Commons: 4 years on
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Reviewing the first four years of Creative Commons, Lawrence Lessig remembers that CC licences were designed to help open a space for creativity freed of much of the burden of copyright law. CC licences became a simple way for authors and artists to express the freedoms they want their creativity to carry. |
Nathan Young – A return to the commons? Why the environment (still) matters in democratic theory
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The re-emergence of the ideal of environmental commons after centuries of privatization and centralization is a highly significant development, says Nathan Young. It is important to recognize, however, that this movement often proceeds in conjunction with the consolidation of exclusive authority in other respects. |
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Elizabeth Stark – Semiotic democracy and cultural transformation (or) the transformative power of semiotic democracy
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The massive and widespread availability of cultural works on the Internet is profoundly impacting the way that we create, view, and consume culture, proposes Elizabeth Stark. Gone are the days of the “one way” medium as king, whereby passive observers merely consume information in a unidirectional fashion. The transformative power of digital technologies has led us to embark upon an age of widespread, democratized cultural production and dissemination. |
Veronika Bauer and Matthias C. Kettemann – Safeguarding the commons in (and of) the information society: How internet governance can help avoiding the real ‘tragedy of the commons’
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The time has come for the information society to clarify the importance of commons to digital inclusion and the protection and promotion of human rights in the information society, argue Veronika Bauer and Matthias C. Kettemann. |