David Bollier is an author, blogger and consultant on the commons as a new paradigm of economics, politics and culture. Co-founded the Commons Strategies Group in 2010.
> An author, activist, blogger and consultant who spends a lot of time exploring the commons as a new paradigm of economics, politics and culture. On this trail for about twenty years (2023), working with a variety of international and domestic partners. In 2010, I co-founded the Commons Strategies Group, a consulting project that works to promote the commons internationally. More recently, I have become Director of the Reinventing the Commons Program at the Schumacher Center for a New Economics, based in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. [webpage](https://www.bollier.org/about)
Some key references are to joint publications by Bollier & Helfrich - see that page.
Bollier & Conaty (2014), *Towards an open cooperativism - A New Social Economy Based on Open Platforms, Co-operative Models and the Commons* [Web](http://wiki.commonstransition.org/wiki/TOWARD_AN_OPEN_CO-OPERATIVISM:_A_New_Social_Economy_Based_on_Open_Platforms,_Co-operative_Models_and_the_Commons), downloaded May 2018.
Bollier (2015), *Reinventing law for the commons*, strategy memo for the Heinrich Böll Foundation, Sep 16 2015 [pdf](http://www.bollier.org/sites/default/files/misc-file-upload/files/Reinventing%20Law%20for%20the%20Commons%20memo.pdf), downloaded April 2018. Link now broken; a copy is here [pdf](https://share.mayfirst.org/s/FcCWS56ZcRDWefo) > ❝ Historically, most commons have not needed nor sought formal protections of law. Their self-organized customs, socially negotiated rules and relative isolation from outside capital and markets, were enough to sustain them. This has changed dramatically over the past 30-40 years, however, as global commerce, technology and conventional law have relentlessly expanded, superimposing the logic and values of markets on nearly every corner of the nature and social life. The resulting enclosures of the commons amount to seizures of common assets for private gain. They are also destroying culturally coherent, productive communities operating outside of the market/state order, forcing people to become consumers and employees in order to meet their needs.
Bollier & Conaty (2016), *Democratic money and capital for the commons - Strategies for transforming neoliberal finance through commons-based alternatives*, report on a Commons Strategies Group workshop in cooperation with the Heinrich Böll Foundation, Berlin, Germany, September 8-10, 2015 [pdf](https://www.boell.de/sites/default/file//democratic_money_capital_for_the_commons_report_january2016.pdf), downloaded March 2018. Link now broken; a copy is here [pdf](https://share.mayfirst.org/s/syHytS2NDnbL8ny) > ❝ In many respects, the current situation is discouraging. While modest legal and financial systems now exist for “green investment” and co-operatives, their potential is untapped and rarely cross-leveraged. Financing for commons-based peer production is virtually nonexistent. There are no coordinated efforts to bring together and expand alternative money and finance models. Nor is there any serious convergence of players or standing venues through which to develop a broader shared agenda for alternative finance, especially in ways that would assist co-operatives, commons, solidarity economy and other transition-oriented projects. On the other hand, below the radar there is a huge diversity of successful experiments, historical models that have worked and at scale and policy innovations that point the way toward a post-capitalist vision of democratic finance and money. These include co-operative and community share issues, mutual credit systems, venture capital for community development, community development and social banks, mutual guarantee societies, interest-free banking and co-operative money systems. There are also some remarkable innovations in digital currencies (some based on the “blockchain ledger” technology proven by Bitcoin) and models of “open co-operativism” that blend open digital platforms with co-operative governance. The seeds of a new financial system may also be found among new organizational forms such as multi-stakeholder co-ops, “open value networks” such as Sensorica and Enspiral, and networks of ethical entrepreneurs who are conscientiously combining social purpose with market activity.
Antonis Brumas & Yavor Tarinski (2017), *The future is a “pluriverse”*- An interview with David Bollier on the potential of the Commons, towardsautonomyblog [webpage](https://towardsautonomyblog.wordpress.com/2017/05/01/the-future-is-a-pluriverse-an-interview-with-david-bollier-on-the-potential-of-the-commons/). downloaded March 2018. > ❝A commons must be able to develop “semi-permeable boundaries” that enable it to safely interact with markets on its own terms. So, for example, a coastal fishery functioning as a commons may sell some of its fish to markets, but the goals of earning money and maximizing profit cannot be allowed to become so foundational that it crowds out commons governance and respect for ecological limits.
Grear & Bollier eds (2020), *The great awakening: New modes of life amidst capitalist ruins*, punctum books. [webpage](https://punctumbooks.com/titles/the-great-awakening-new-modes-of-life-amidst-capitalist-ruins/), downloaded nov 2023. Free [pdf download](https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/42480/0285.1.00.pdf)) > ❝ Twelve cutting-edge activists, scholars, and change-makers probe the deep roots of our current predicament while reflecting on the social DNA for a post-capitalist future . . . It is clear that the multiple, entangled crises produced by neoliberal capitalism cannot be resolved by existing political and legal institutions, which are imploding under the weight of their own contradictions. Present and future needs can be met by systems that go beyond the market and state. With experiments and struggle, a growing pluriverse of commoners from Europe and the US to the Global South and cyberspace are demonstrating some fundamentally new ways of thinking, being and acting. > Contributors Sam Adelman, Michel Bauwens, David Bollier, Primavera De Filippi, Vito De Lucia, Richard Falk, Anna Grear, Paul B. Hartzog, Andreas Karitzis, Xavier Labayssiere, Maywa Montenegro de Wit, Jose Ramos
Bollier (2023), *Rights of nature, self-owning land, and other hacks on western law*, [blog](https://www.bollier.org/blog/rights-nature-self-owning-land-and-other-hacks-western-law) > "We . . create an unincorporated association under the law. The flora, fauna and other elements of an ecosystem that comprise the land come together as an association and create a legal entity. It is then represented by human guardians who have a legal relationship with the land and legal duties to carry out the best interests of the ecosystems – like guardians who represent the interests of minors in court." Thomas Linzey, quoted.
Bollier (current nov 2023), News and perspectives on the commons, blog and archive [website](https://www.bollier.org/)
Bollier (current, nov 2023), *The commoners' catalog on changemaking*, [webpage](https://www.commonerscatalog.org/) > A collection on the lines of the classic *Whole Earth Catalog*.