The Politics of the Common Good

The Earth is a Common Treasury, proclaimed the English Revolutionaries in the 1640s. Does the principle of the commons offer us ways to respond now to the increasingly destructive effects of neoliberalism?

With insight, passion and an eye on history, Jane Goodall argues that as the ravages of neo-liberalism tear ever more deeply into the social fabric, the principle of the commons should be restored to the heart of our politics. She looks in particular at land and public institutions in Australia and elsewhere. Many ordinary citizens seem prepared to support governments that increase national debt while selling off publicly owned assets and cutting back on services. In developed countries, extreme poverty is becoming widespread yet we are told we have never been so prosperous.

This important book calls for a radically different kind of economy, one that will truly serve the common good.

This bold, utterly timely book goes to the key issues determining how we will live together into the future: thriving or further fracturing. The depth of thinking is magnificent. As is the clarity and accessibility of Goodall's writing. We are more than ciphers in an economic game. The Politics of the Common Good counters that myth with unwavering integrity. - Stephanie Dowrick, PhD, writer and social commentator

Goodall has a way of picturing relations between theoretical moments as itself a kind of commons - knowledge is not arranged according to hierarchies of importance or influence...Not a book that reassures, but definitely a grand resource of food for thought. - Robyn Ferrell, Canberra Times