The Commons in an Age of Uncertainty: A Review Essay

Abstract

Franklin Obeng-Odoom's recent work offers an alternative to both conventional economics and to what he calls the "Western left consensus." Obeng-Odoom's option involves placing justice at the center of policy regarding commons, not as a side note. Justice requires a focus on the land issue. This much is true, but Obeng-Odoom ignores the plurality of views that are critical of the dominant political economy. A successful transition to a sustainable future will make use of many cultural and religious traditions working together. The Right, The Left, and the Radical AlternativeThe Commons in an Age of Uncertainty: Decolonizing Nature, Economy, and Society, by Franklin Obeng-Odoom (2021), is an ambitious project that seeks to transcend not only the conventional wisdom of neoclassical political economy but also what the author calls the "Western left consensus." The book develops a radical alternative, centered on the basic and systemic importance of land, conceptualized in the broad sense of nature itself, not in the narrow sense of a factor of production. The rest of this essay is structured around the four parts that make up this book.Part A describes and analyzes the problem: the age of uncertainty. It is characterized by growing inequality leading to pressing social problems, particularly in the Global South. At the same time, the warming of the planet is moving towards catastrophe. Both factors