Markets, states, and social movements shape commoning and commons

Many scholars of common-pool resource governance recognize that external actors play important roles in shaping the creation and outcomes of commons. But systematic attention to their influence has been infrequent. The growing body of research on commoning offers relevant theoretical tools for examining external influences on processes of institutional emergence and outcomes. Focusing on the commoning of Baja California Sur small-scale fisheries, our study leverages a comparative historical case study approach to examine the creation and reproduction of fishing cooperatives in two periods of postrevolutionary Mexican history. We trace a multi-stranded process whereby public, private and social movement actors influenced the decisions and actions of resource users related to the emergence and long-term features of commons institutions. We find that capitalist development of value-added, export-oriented fisheries, state laws and policies, and social movements were critical factors in the emergence of sustainable fishing cooperatives in the mid-20th century postrevolutionary period. These factors were absent since the 1990s as new fishing cooperatives emerged with neoliberal changes to fisheries policy and the rise of an environmental movement. Still, conservation-oriented researchers and NGOs have influenced development of more democratic processes and resource monitoring in some of the more recently formed cooperatives. We conclude by arguing for greater attention to the collective processes that affect the specific features of commoning–including external-local actor interactions– for deeper insights into the sustainability and durability of commons institutions.

Duke Scholars

Author Xavier Basurto Marine Science and Conservation