Commons in the Neoliberal Era: An Analysis of Transformation, Threat, and Resistance

This paper analyses how neoliberalism, as both an economic and political project, restructures social relations by systematically undermining traditional and digital commons through processes of privatization, commodification, and enclosure. Theoretically, it draws on Karl Marx’s notion of primitive accumulation and David Harvey’s concept of accumulation by dispossession to frame neoliberalism as a renewed and continuous phase of enclosure that extends capitalist control over shared resources. It also engages with Elinor Ostrom’s institutional theory of collective action and Massimo De Angelis’s conception of value struggles to examine the resilience and transformative potential of commons-based practices.

The paper compares the material commons (such as land, water, and forests) with immaterial or digital commons (such as open-source software, data, and platforms) to reveal how neoliberal rationality reshapes both domains. Through case studies like the Bolivian Water War and the Zapatista movement, it demonstrates how communities resist dispossession by reconstructing cooperative, non-market-oriented systems of governance and production. In digital contexts, the emergence of platform capitalism and algorithmic control signifies a new enclosure of informational resources, turning participation and data into commodities.

Ultimately, the study argues that reclaiming the commons requires not only defending shared resources but reimagining production, governance, and social cooperation beyond the logic of capital accumulation.