The management and use of the commons in France in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries

Vivier, Nadine

doi:10.1484/m.corn-eb.4.00177

Cited by 10 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…13 13 Examples could be found in, for example, north‐western France; see Vivier, ‘Management and use’, p. 157. …”

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confidence: 99%

Avoiding tragedies: a Flemish common and its commoners under the pressure of social and economic change during the eighteenth century¹

Moor

2009

The Economic History Review

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Despite the wide application of the metaphor of 'the tragedy of the commons', there is little historical literature that points to the weaknesses of its historical basis. There is, however, sufficient qualitative and quantitative evidence to prove that commons were well regulated and organized in order to achieve a sustainable management, that also took into account the needs and wishes of its commoners. This case study of a common in Flanders looks at the evidence for this in the eighteenth century, examining bookkeeping and other archival sources. A model that incorporates the different functions of the commons (sustainability, efficiency, and utility) is explained and applied. I n 1968, in his article 'The tragedy of the commons', Hardin described how a medieval common pasture was over-exploited due to the selfish behaviour of the villagers. 2 In his account, all inhabitants of the medieval European village could use the common pasture.There seemed to be no clear restrictions on access to the common, nor on the number of livestock each of the users could put on the common, nor was there a collective management (in terms of use and maintenance) of the land. Moreover, the commoners seemed not to communicate with each other about the use or management of their common. 3 This 'freedom on the commons' gave the commoner the incentive to put as many cattle on the common as he possibly could; after all, surely every rational herdsman would conclude that selfish behaviour was the most advantageous strategy for survival. As long as diseases and adversity decimated the cattle and the herdsmen from time to time, no real problems arose on the common. However, due to population growth, this freedom of use would eventually lead to the over-exploitation and degradation of the common; hence, 'the tragedy of the commons'. Internet searches and citation indexes confirm that it would be difficult to find a stronger or more widely used metaphor. Because Hardin made clear links among population issues, property rights, and environmental degradation, his ideas found an eager audience among

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“…13 13 Examples could be found in, for example, north‐western France; see Vivier, ‘Management and use’, p. 157. …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Avoiding tragedies: a Flemish common and its commoners under the pressure of social and economic change during the eighteenth century¹

Moor

2009

The Economic History Review

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“…Even though much of Europe's forests were ultimately cut down, large areas of woodlands were successfully preserved, for instance, in Italy, through various forms of cooperation within local communities (Ongaro, 2016), whereas other strategies, such as effective use of accounting and bookkeeping, strengthened communality and facilitated sustainability in rural Spain (Lana-Berasain, 2017). In mountainous alpine areas and in the northeastern parts of France, forests were preserved through the establishment of bylaws (Vivier, 2002). In northwestern Germany in the Westphalian region of Hauberge, forests were parcelled into different 'fields' that were used in rotation, which managed to meet the growing needs of the iron industries and the agricultural sector from the late Middle Ages to the late nineteenth century (Brakensiek, 2002).…”

Section: Management Of Common Landsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conflict and negotiation: management of forest commons in seventeenth-century Northern Finland

Starlander

2020

Scandinavian Economic History Review

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The seventeenth century was a time when large economic transformations had direct consequences on people's everyday lives. Increased economic pressure was put on rural populations, which affected their management of the resources that they owned in common. This paper examines how peasant communities managed commonly owned forests in Finland during the seventeenth century. The focus is placed on North Ostrobothnia, where large-scale tar production and widespread timber cutting took place to meet the growing need of European states for forest products. Through the study of district court protocols, this article analyses how peasant communities responded to and coped with the new economic climate of the period while local authorities enforced royally sanctioned restrictions and outside interest groups raised demands on what the peasantry could provide. Consequently, the peasantry formalised previously informal rules, regulated cutting activities in relation to the taxable capacity of the peasant households, and re-established borders, which offset privatisation.

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“…If we also include forest, mountainous and coastal areas, the figure can reach 9% of the total (Brown 2005in Brown 2006a). Notwithstanding the current design of the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the disincentive to the maintenance of collective institutions to manage the commons (Sutcliffe et al 2013), common lands represent 9% of the surface of France (Vivier, 2002), 10% of Switzerland, 7.1% of Romania (Sutcliffe et al, 2013), 5.4% of Portugal (Serra et al, 2016: 172), 4.2% of Spain (Lana-Berasain and Iriarte-Goni, 2015) and 3.3% of the United Kingdom. These commons are widespread, rich in biodiversity (Brown, 2006b) and strongly linked to family farming (Sutcliffe et al, 2013).…”

Section: Collective Proprietary Rights In Food Systems Are Recognized...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Routledge Handbook Of Food As A Commons

Vivero-Pol¹,

Ferrando²,

Schutter³

et al. 2018

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From the scientific and industrial revolution to the present day, food -an essential element of life -has been progressively transformed into a private, transnational, mono-dimensional commodity of mass consumption for a global market. But over the last decade there has been an increased recognition that this can be challenged and reconceptualized if food is regarded and enacted as a commons.This Handbook provides the first comprehensive review and synthesis of knowledge and new thinking on how food and food systems can be thought, interpreted and practiced around the old/new paradigms of commons and commoning. The overall aim is to investigate the multiple constraints that occur within and sustain the dominant food and nutrition regime and to explore how it can change when different elements of the current food systems are explored and re-imagined from a commons perspective. Chapters do not define the notion of commons but engage with different schools of thought:First published 2019 by Routledge

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The management and use of the commons in France in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries

Cited by 10 publications

References 0 publications

Avoiding tragedies: a Flemish common and its commoners under the pressure of social and economic change during the eighteenth century¹

Avoiding tragedies: a Flemish common and its commoners under the pressure of social and economic change during the eighteenth century¹

Conflict and negotiation: management of forest commons in seventeenth-century Northern Finland

Routledge Handbook Of Food As A Commons

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The management and use of the commons in France in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries

Cited by 10 publications

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Avoiding tragedies: a Flemish common and its commoners under the pressure of social and economic change during the eighteenth century1

Avoiding tragedies: a Flemish common and its commoners under the pressure of social and economic change during the eighteenth century1

Conflict and negotiation: management of forest commons in seventeenth-century Northern Finland

Routledge Handbook Of Food As A Commons

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Avoiding tragedies: a Flemish common and its commoners under the pressure of social and economic change during the eighteenth century¹

Avoiding tragedies: a Flemish common and its commoners under the pressure of social and economic change during the eighteenth century¹