Governing the Commons
Elinor Ostrom, 1990
The empirical refutation of the “Tragedy of the Commons.” People can manage shared resources. Here’s how.
Ostrom studied commons around the world — Swiss alpine pastures, Japanese forest commons, Spanish irrigation systems, Philippine irrigation societies, Turkish inshore fisheries — and found that many were managed successfully for centuries.
Her question wasn’t ideological (should we privatize or nationalize?). It was empirical: what actually works? The answer: community governance, under specific conditions.
The Eight Design Principles
- Clearly defined boundaries — who can use the resource, and what’s included
- Congruence — rules match local conditions
- Collective-choice arrangements — those affected participate in decisions
- Monitoring — by community members, not external authorities
- Graduated sanctions — proportional to the violation
- Conflict-resolution mechanisms — cheap and accessible
- Minimal recognition of rights — external authorities don’t interfere
- Nested enterprises — for resources at multiple scales
These aren’t theoretical. They’re derived from studying what actually worked in real commons over real time.
Connections
- Elinor Ostrom — author
- commons — the subject
- mutual-aid — governance that enables cooperation
- Peter Kropotkin — empirical support for his intuitions
- replication-not-scaling — each commons adapts locally
“A resource arrangement that works in practice can work in theory.” — “Ostrom’s Law,” as Lee Anne Fennell named it