Commons and Policy: Compilation of Inputs and Reflections – IASC Europe and CIS Colloquium Series 2022

Between March and May 2022, IASC Europe & CIS in collaboration with the Institute of Social Anthropology hosted a colloquium series featuring presentations by international speakers. Thematically, the presentations within the series were dedicated to policy issues related to the commons and bringing on the one hand, the commons knowledge and on the other hand, policy and practice closer in Europe & CIS and beyond. Seven themes were used to be presented in relation to policies: urban commons, European agrarian commons, implementation of commons policies, health commons, digital commons and the SDGs and the commons.

Background for the colloquium was the fact that at the moment many policies related to agrarian subsidies, sustainable development goals, biodiversity protection, energy strategies, land use planning etc. are being discussed in Europe and CIS on national or on EU and other respective supranational levels. Europe and CIS is also closely linked to development policies in other regions through its active role in bilateral and global processes. Some of these policies are already on the way to be implemented by governments. Many of these issues are closely related to the commons but this is often not mentioned. Despite Ostrom's work, the commons are not an issue in these policies although highly relevant, especially when it comes to the issue of common property and commoners’ interests. The presentation addressed these issues and discussions were focused on how this could be changed:

• Commons and Polycentric Governance within and across cities
  by Chagas Cavalcanti AR (and Roggero M)

• The European commons: The “great absent” in the EU agri-food and agri-environmental policy making
  by Manzoni A, Diaz-Maroto IJ,  Bogataj N

• Water as commons in undemocratic postcolonial South
  by Putri P

• Success and failures in policy implementation – Methodological questions and sharing goals with commoners
  by Micciarelli G (and Mendez P)

• Health and law-making: re-creating collective narratives
  by Balli F, Carpentier P

• Is the digital economy market-driven or commons-based? Lessons for EU digital strategy
  by Pazaitis A, Kostakis V

• SDGs and the commons: from a central missing topic towards recognition via national implementations?
  by Haller T, Soliev I