The 3rd way
Experience has shown that the shared use of goods, or even a system, by a large group of individuals, results in an inevitable "tragedy of the commons". Division and appropriation of the global natural systems is not possible. For that reason, we are faced with their disorganized use at the scale of the global community. Climate change is a classic example of this tragedy. But it is in this context where global collective action seems a "political impossibility" that the Nobel prize in economics is awarded to Elinor Ostrom for her work on the commons. This work deconstructed the widespread fatalist idea of the "tragedy of the commons " and opened doors for the possibility of a Happy End. Under this new approach, the need becomes clear to create a framework for phenomena that do not fit into a dichotomous world of "Market" and "State". Out of this context, emerges the legal framework of the condominium, as a third way for an integrated management of different modes of ownership and interests that overlap the same goods. It is a form of hybrid property, used with proven success, in buildings, rural communities and in the management of common resources between neighboring countries. By setting apart the common from the individual property, as well as separating the different obligations and management skills, it has been possible to reconcile individual and collective interests, which harmonizes these overlapping interests.
The characteristics of the condominium, which the Spanish doctrine defines as "complex property", could provide a tool that helps us to make a more detailed reading of the complex phenomena we are facing. Although at different scales, there are remarkable similarities between the problems structure and the feasibility of the solutions.
The Earth Condominium can serve as a conceptual model to explore mechanisms and institutions capable of structuring a global collective action.
Intervening in the initial conditions
The joint involvement of a comprehensive legal support, accounting system and compensation, are the foundations that we propose to build a Green and Human Economy.
We cross, in a creative way, legal, economic and Earth sciences. On top of the conceptual framework for reconciling individual with collective interest, we propose an alternative model for the "Market" and "State". We believe it has the potential to serve as a means to avoid the serious consequences resulting from the lack of coherence of the various systems and organize the deep interdependence we are involved in. A structural problem cannot be deal with without intervening in the structure.
Happy End
Voluntary acceptance of rules within a large group requires prior settlement of the necessary organizational foundations, which enable the emergence of trust. By studying the variables that increase the likelihood of self-organization to be effective in solving collective action problems, Elinor Ostrom paved the way for the possibility of a Happy End. This researcher believes that the socially optimal outcome can be achieved if the majority of the people involved are willing to "cooperate", but no one is motivated to shift their choice without being able to predict the choices of others. "The crucial factor will be a combination of structural features that lead many of those involved to trust each other and have will to enroll in a joint action that adds value to their own short term costs, because both see a long term benefit for themselves and for others, and believe that most of the others will also comply. (...) It is obviously much easier to build solutions to collective action problems related to resources on a smaller scale than those related to a global common good.” But, if there is a "physical impossibility" imposed by the natural limits of the planet, then creating the conditions to overcome the "political impossibility" and structuring collective action is the only thing that is truly within our reach.
