A Common Good Approach to Development: Collective Dynamics of Development Processes

This edited collection proposes a common good approach to development theory and practice. Rather than focusing on the outcomes or conditions of development, the contributors concentrate on the quality of development processes, suggesting that a common good dynamic is key in order to trigger development.

Resulting from more than three years of research by an international group of over fifty scholars, the volume advocates for a modern understanding of the common good—rather than a theological or metaphysical good—in societies by emphasising the social practice of ‘commoning’ at its core. It suggests that the dynamic equilibrium of common goods in a society should be at the centre of development efforts. For this purpose, it develops a matrix of common good dynamics, accounting for how institutions, social norms and common practices interconnect by identifying five key drivers not only of development, but human development (agency, governance, justice, stability, humanity). Based on this matrix, the contributors suggest a possible metric for measuring the quality of these dynamics. The last section of the book highlights the possibilities enabled by this approach through a series of case studies.

The concept of the common good has recently enjoyed a revival and inspired practitioners keen to look beyond the shortcomings of political and economic liberalism. This book builds on those efforts to think beyond the agenda of twentieth-century development policies, and will be of interest to those working in the fields of development, economics, sociology, philosophy and political science.

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction Download
Mathias Nebel and Oscar Garza-Vázquez

PART I: A COMMON GOOD APPROACH TO DEVELOPMENT

Introduction to Part I Download
Mathias Nebel, Oscar Garza-Vázquez and Clemens Sedmak

1. The Theoretical Framework: Common Goods and Systems of Common Goods Download
Mathias Nebel

2. From Theory to Practice: A Matrix of Common Good Dynamics Download
Mathias Nebel and Jorge Medina Delgadillo

3. Design and Reflection on the Metric of Common Dynamics Download
Oscar Garza-Vázquez and Viviana Ramírez

PART II: DISCUSSING THE NORMATIVE ELEMENTS OF COMMON GOOD DYNAMICS

Introduction to Part I Download
Mathias Nebel, Oscar Garza-Vázquez and Clemens Sedmak

4. Collective Agency Freedom as the Engine of a Common Good Dynamic: A Conceptual Proposal for Measurement Download
Oscar Garza-Vázquez

5. The Systemic Outcome of Common Good Dynamics: Humanity Download
Clemens Sedmak

6. Governance, Commoning and the Unequal Terms of Recognition Download
Tom De Herdt and Denis Augustin Samnick

7. Organising Common Good Dynamics: Justice Download
Rodolfo De la Torre

8. Development and Stability Download
Flavio Comim

PART III: CASE STUDIES AND APPLICATIONS

Introduction to Part I Download
Mathias Nebel, Oscar Garza-Vázquez and Clemens Sedmak

9. Do We Need a Common Good Approach to Development? Download
Helen Alford

10. Bangsamoro: A Case Study in Governing for the Common Good Download
Patrick Riordan S.J.

11. Assessing the Nexus of the Common Good: The Case of the Municipality of Atlixco, Mexico Download
Valente Tallabs and Mathias Nebel

12. Assessing the Transformative Impact of Love-Based Microsocial Communities: From Existential Peripheries into the Nexus of the Common Good Download
Simona Beretta

List of Illustrations

List of Tables

Index

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). This license allows you to share, copy, distribute and transmit the work for non-commercial purposes, providing attribution is made to the author (but not in any way that suggests that he endorses you or your use of the work). Attribution should include the following information:

Mathias Nebel, Oscar Garza-Vázquez and Clemens Sedmak. A Common Good Approach to Development: Collective Dynamics of Development Processes. Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers, 2022. https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0290