changing minds: Commonweal defined?

Friday 28 June 2013

Commonweal defined?

There are many ways to understand the concept of commonweal. Simply stated it refers to the public good, especially the good of communities. It is about the welfare and well-being of everyone. It can therefore be seen as a left of centre aspiration.

The concept takes on an extra dimension when we think legally in terms of ‘The Commons’. The best known part of the commons is the Common Good which is the name given to the inherited property of the former burghs of Scotland and consists of a range of assets both moveable (furniture, paintings, regalia etc.) and heritable (land and buildings). But there are other less well known types of commons - Commonties, Greens, Loans, Cattalds, Common mosses, and Crown Commons.

Then there is the idea of weal and woe. The weal refers to well-being, prosperity, or happiness. There is therefore the notion of the public or common weal which will have psychological, political and economic dimensions which link to the values underpinning systems of morality and ethics.

The Sunday Herald of 23 June 2013 carried two articles investigating the commonweal vision.

Tom Gordon

Tom Gordon (Sunday Herald political editor) reckoned that there is a growth in support for the Nordic model as set out by the Jimmy Reid think-tank. The VISION is of Scotland as a big-state, high-tax independent nation. This includes a bigger welfare state with

lifelong universal services
a diverse economy with high-skill, high-wage jobs and firms fostered by state lending; and
greater local democracy and
gender equality.

The Common Weal is about creating a society where everybody is valued and where people are given the rights they need to be protected, supported and nurtured through their lifetime.

Rev Shuna Dicks

Rev Shuna Dicks (Church of Scotland) noted that in real life, we all want Scandinavian quality of services at American levels of taxation. Realistically, we know this cannot happen, so which do we want?

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Church of Scotland would tend towards a society where priority would be given to

sharing wealth,
providing decent safety nets for those on the margins and
helping every person to live life to their full potential.

The Jimmy Reid Foundation notes that Common Weal is an emerging movement which is

developing a vision for economic and social development in Scotland which is
distinct and different from the political orthodoxy that dominates politics and economics in London.
based on the conviction that we will get better outcomes for both society and individuals if we emphasise mutuality and equity rather than conflict and inequality
captured in one simple phrase: to build more we must share more.

The Common Weal Project will issue an open call for anyone to submit ideas, papers, proposals or policies which would contribute to a Common Weal vision. The project will be managed by six editorial teams, each with a small group of researchers.

Materials will be collected in an online library and organised under six headings (see below). As the library is populated, our researchers will trawl the content for the best ideas and approaches. These will then be put together by editorial teams and published as six major reports.

The six headings are: