Reframing Public Ownership in the Foundational Economy: (Re)Discovering a Variety of Forms

Abstract

Against the visible return of the state across the globe this chapter seeks to contribute to discussions on emanicpatory and progressive forms of public ownership. In line with foundational thinking such an agenda seeks to strengthen the role of citizens as active economic and political agents and aims at re-distributing power and democratization. Hence, we argue for a new framing of public ownership that also includes new (and old forms) of collective ownership beyond the central state. After a conceptual discussion that provides a critique of the dominant view on public ownership the chapter presents three illustrative case studies that provide potential for foundational provisioning with a more active role for citizens. These are: Austrian limited-profit housing associations which operate as a “social licensed” housing provider, remunicipalised French water companies with new governance mechanisms, and water cooperatives in Austria as a form of self-governed provisioning system in rural areas.