Democracy as if the future mattered: Can democratic innovation in the commons change the world?

The world is currently entangled in the confluence of various social, political, economic and ecological crises, and there is growing doubt that current systems of governance can cope or even survive this perfect storm. Democracy has been constrained to and by a narrow set of institutions and processes anchored in dominant imaginaries of political organisation through the state-market nexus. There are, however, countless activists, researchers, reformers and innovators imagining and practicing richer forms of democratic life. A growing area of focus in this direction is that of the commons, which encompasses a wide range of activities at the intersection of social movements/justice, economic renewal, and participatory governance. The paradigm of the commons originated in historical arrangements based on shared ownership and management of assets such as common pastures, waters, and other natural resources. They were held in common, and this community-based form of governance thus became known as the commons. The crucial contribution of the commons is that they provide alternative forms of social and political organisation that go beyond the dualism between state and market. This has inspired a revival of the ideals and practices of the commons across a range of contemporary domains from culture to energy, from digital space to land management, food, and education, and from physical resources to intellectual capital. This chapter reviews the new imaginaries of the commons and puts them in conversation with the field of democratic innovation to explore whether these spheres of action can bring about systemic change.