Page 121 - Panjek, Aleksander, Jesper Larsson and Luca Mocarelli, eds. 2017. Integrated Peasant Economy in a Comparative Perspective: Alps, Scandinavia and Beyond. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 121
the importance of commons in an integrated peasant economy ...
markets. This expansion ultimately led to all land, private and common,
being used in the 19th century and was highly dependent on self-governance
and collective action (J. Larsson 2016). In that sense, it was part of a Euro-
pean trend started in the medieval period when collective action was a cha-
racteristic feature of the peasant economy that peaked before the liberal re-
forms changed management to favour private property during the 18th and
19th centuries (de Moor 2015). In northern Scandinavia, the commons were
an essential part of the economy up to the late 19th century, when changes
in production and property rights profoundly changed society (J. Larsson
2009). Sami societies dependent on reindeer husbandry were the exception.
New legislation in the late 19th and early 20th centuries declared Sami villa-
ges as legal entities for reindeer breeding, giving legal support to their CPR
management (Lundmark 2006; Lantto 2012).
The expansion of the economy on common land started during the
recovery from the medieval crises in the late 15th century and took off in
the 17th century (Lindegren 2001; Söderberg and Myrdal 2002; Myrdal 2011;
J. Larsson 2016). An expanding global market provided opportunities to
change production using available resources that had been used in more
limited ways before. Demands for iron, copper, cattle, butter, hides, tar,
charcoal, and reindeer meat – commodities that could be extracted from
or produced by using the wooded and mountainous upland areas in cen-
tral and northern Scandinavia – fueled the change. Looking closely at ex-
ports from Sweden during that time yields two striking facts (Lindegren
2001). First, exports from Sweden, to a large extent, were dependent on re-
sources from CPRs; mining, ironwork, and forestry all depended on CPR
resources, such as charcoal and firewood. Second, expanding exports pro-
foundly changed the management of many commons, as exemplified by
four brief case studies of intensified production in three areas of northern
Scandinavia.
1.1 Nomadic reindeer pastoralism
The economy of the Mountain Sami society changed from an economy
based mostly on hunting and fishing to an economy based on large-scale
nomadic reindeer pastoralism, but the period in which this change occur-
red has been intensely debated (Hultblad 1968; Arell 1977; Lundmark 1982;
Aronsson 1991; Marklund 2004; Bergman, Zackrisson, and Liedgren 2013).
Scholars argue that the change took place within a span from the 800s to
the 17th century. Without going into the debate too deeply, there are good
119
markets. This expansion ultimately led to all land, private and common,
being used in the 19th century and was highly dependent on self-governance
and collective action (J. Larsson 2016). In that sense, it was part of a Euro-
pean trend started in the medieval period when collective action was a cha-
racteristic feature of the peasant economy that peaked before the liberal re-
forms changed management to favour private property during the 18th and
19th centuries (de Moor 2015). In northern Scandinavia, the commons were
an essential part of the economy up to the late 19th century, when changes
in production and property rights profoundly changed society (J. Larsson
2009). Sami societies dependent on reindeer husbandry were the exception.
New legislation in the late 19th and early 20th centuries declared Sami villa-
ges as legal entities for reindeer breeding, giving legal support to their CPR
management (Lundmark 2006; Lantto 2012).
The expansion of the economy on common land started during the
recovery from the medieval crises in the late 15th century and took off in
the 17th century (Lindegren 2001; Söderberg and Myrdal 2002; Myrdal 2011;
J. Larsson 2016). An expanding global market provided opportunities to
change production using available resources that had been used in more
limited ways before. Demands for iron, copper, cattle, butter, hides, tar,
charcoal, and reindeer meat – commodities that could be extracted from
or produced by using the wooded and mountainous upland areas in cen-
tral and northern Scandinavia – fueled the change. Looking closely at ex-
ports from Sweden during that time yields two striking facts (Lindegren
2001). First, exports from Sweden, to a large extent, were dependent on re-
sources from CPRs; mining, ironwork, and forestry all depended on CPR
resources, such as charcoal and firewood. Second, expanding exports pro-
foundly changed the management of many commons, as exemplified by
four brief case studies of intensified production in three areas of northern
Scandinavia.
1.1 Nomadic reindeer pastoralism
The economy of the Mountain Sami society changed from an economy
based mostly on hunting and fishing to an economy based on large-scale
nomadic reindeer pastoralism, but the period in which this change occur-
red has been intensely debated (Hultblad 1968; Arell 1977; Lundmark 1982;
Aronsson 1991; Marklund 2004; Bergman, Zackrisson, and Liedgren 2013).
Scholars argue that the change took place within a span from the 800s to
the 17th century. Without going into the debate too deeply, there are good
119
