Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
2015
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7312/columbia/9780231172783.003.0001
Abstract
In their introductory chapter, De Schutter and Pistor argue that in light of increasing absolute and relative scarcity of land and fresh water there is urgent need to improve the governance of these and other essential resources. Emphasizing “essentiality” shifts the debate from allocative efficiency to normative concerns of equity and dignity. Essential resources are indispensable for survival and/or for meaningful participation in a given community. Their allocation therefore cannot be left to the pricing mechanism alone. It requires new parameters for governance. The authors propose Voice and Reflexivity as the key parameters of such a regime. Voice is the ability to collectively choose the rules by which social groups wish to be governed; and Reflexivity to recognize competing claims as legitimate and the willingness to accommodate them. Essential resources are not mere commodities. How they are governed must respect their special place in a dignified society.
Disciplines
Growth and Development | Law | Property Law and Real Estate
Recommended Citation
Olivier De Schutter & Katharina Pistor,
Introduction: Toward Voice and Reflexivity,
Governing Access to Essential Resources, Katharina Pistor & Olivier De Schutter (Eds.), Oxford University Press
(2015).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship/4342