2013 conference series

Dominique Bourg
The facets of tragedy: socio-political meaning and issues

The aim will be to situate Hardin's text within ecological thought, after défining it, to show its contribution and to deégager en pourquoi le problème posé, en dépit d'approximations analytiques (la confusion entre biens communs et biens open source), est encore plus prégnant aujourd'hui.

Valérie Boisvert
From the tragedy of the commons to that of the anti-commons: the risks of privatisation

"Too much ownership" and "no ownership" are two extremes that both compromise the sound management of resources and can be observed in different contexts. It will discuss the problem of hyperproperty (the tragedy of the anticommons) and its relationship to the tragedy of the commons.

Emmanuel Reynard
The long history of water sharing: the bisses, from the Middle Ages to the present day

The lecture will cover the historical, geographical and socio-political aspects of the division of water from the bisses in Valais.

Christian Thöni
La tragédie au laboratoire: expériences sur le partage de sommes d’argent
(lecture in English – slides in French)

The lecture will develop the problem of the tragedy of the commons through experimental economics, which sets up gambling involving human subjects in the laboratory. This will be an opportunity to reflect on the knowledge gain provided by this line of research.

Laurent Lehmann
How to model the tragedy of the commons: a mathematician's perspective

The problem of the tragedy of the commons will be approached through evolutionary modelling using mathematical tools developed in population genetics. This will be an opportunity to reflect on the transfer of knowledge from models to reality.

Hans Püttgen
An engineer on the scene: technical responses to tragedy

This talk will focus on the bifurcation of energy-related challenges between

• industrialised countries/regions – énergétically « rich », whereù the défi clearly is a more intelligent use of ’énergy – in all its forms – a wider œuation of énergies. In these countries/regions we will therefore have to continue to move towards an ever more electric world.
• the countries in the process of émergence – énergétiquement « pauvres », o&eugrave; le défi sera de face à leurs aspirations, justifiéThe challenge will be to meet their justified aspirations for a better quality of life and, as a direct consequence, greater availability of cheap energy, while limiting the impact on the environment.

 Underlying these questions are, of course, the geopolitical problems associated with energy.

David Bouvier
Is the tragedy of the commons Greek? How can a limited heritage be shared infinitely? 

To explain his theory on the dramatic consequences of the free exploitation of common property, Garrett Hardin has not hesitated to resort to the paradigm of tragedy and the irretrievable mishap of an inescapable destiny. Its solution also takes the form of the moral axioms of ancient tragedies: "Freedom is the recognition of necessity". But in Greek tragedy, the recognition of tragedy always falls to man. Long before Hardin, Plato had formulated the problem of limiting needs and natural resources, and he too, like Hardin, opted for a solution that privileged moral awareness. If we go back to Plato, it is clear that the tragedy of the commons can first and foremost be the tragedy of a common morality or culture, the values that the Greek tragedy showed to be impossible to share. I shall seek in these remarks the starting point for my reflection on tragedy as a common economic good.

Raphaël Rousseleau
Humans, victims and other actors in tragedy: the case of a mining project in India

The Niamgiri mountain range in India (State of Odisha) is home to a group classified as "tribal" by the Indian Union: the Dongria Kond. They make their living from farming based on essartage (growing crops on brushwood) on plots of land temporarily taken from the massif's forests. Beneath their feet, the subsoil of the mountain, which belongs to the state, is home to a deposit of bauxite, the ore that forms the basis of aluminium, a particularly pure composition for industry. Before being blocked by a decision of the Indian environment ministry, a project to exploit the deposit triggered a chain of contradictory speeches. The company and the government continue to insist that it is essential to use this major mining resource for the development of the region, while local associations and humanitarian organisations point to the pollution caused by the project, which would damage local water and agricultural resources. It should also be noted that the government is now tending to privatise the plots, which will further divide up the mountain commons. We will present the main players in this potential tragedy, including the mountain itself.

Florence Passy
Behind the scenes of tragedy: values and motivations of the actors

The focus will be on what motivates people to get involved in public causes linked to the problem of the tragedy of the commons.

Olivier Glassey
Tragédie on the Net: the issues of music sharing

By considering the specific case of online music, this contribution aims to revisit the question of the tragedy of the commons in the light of contemporary digital issues. The Internet allows for the pooling of resources in ways that challenge traditional forms of ownership associated with the circulation of content. The presentation will attempt to explain how the concepts of the commons, access, sharing and ownership are constantly reconfigured by the technical platforms mobilised in the strategies of net players.