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The Commons: Governance and Collective Action
The document discusses the governance and collective action challenges of managing common pool resources or commons. It defines commons as natural or socially constructed resources that are large enough that exclusion of users is difficult. Managing commons requires collective action to coordinate use while maintaining sustainable production. The document reviews different frameworks for analyzing commons issues, including the "tragedy of the commons" perspective, different property rights systems, and Elinor Ostrom's work on institutional design principles for long-enduring management of commons. It emphasizes that successful governance depends on rules fitting the social-ecological context and polycentric systems with multiple decision-making centers.
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The Commons: Governance and Collective Action
- 1. THE COMMONS. GOVERNANCEAND COLLECTIVE ACTIONRuth Meinzen-Dick and Leticia MerinoInternational Association for the Study of the Commons
- 2. «We need tobecome able go understand complexity and not treat it as synonymous of chaos»Elinor Ostrom
- 3. Course PlanWhat arethe commons, building a definition.Commons and panaceasCollective action and property rightsThreats of commons governance, the roll of institutionsPolycentricity and social capital
- 4. What are thecommons?Natural resource systems or socially created, large enough that the exclusion of potential users is difficult or costly.In a large sense they are shared resourcesTheir sustained use demand collective action (cooperation and coordination).
- 5. Characteristics of commonpool resources: level of exclusion costsRelated to the capacity to exclude potential users from the access to resource systems and units of resources. They result of the nature of the resource, the technologies in use and the social conditions in which use takes place.
- 6. Characteristics of commonpool resources: level of subtractabilityIt refers to the impacts of the use of a resource of a user on the potential use for others.It is related to the limited nature of resourceunites susceptible to be appropriated bydifferent users. A number of resource units is no longeravailable to potential users due to previousappropriation.
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- 9. Value of thedistinction betweenTypes of goods (or resources) related to the level of exclusion and rivalry present in the use of goods andTypes of property regimes related to: property rights and type of subjects of property rights.
- 10. The commons:Today´ scomplex societies depend each time more of their ability to jointly manage and maintain common resources.
- 11. The Tragedy ofthe Commons (Science, 1968).Garret Hardin proposed that all resources jointly owned or used would be eventually over-exploited. The causes of over-exploitation are population growth and freedom.
- 12. The Tragedy ofthe Commons (Science, 1968).Garret Hardin proposed that rational individual decisions lead to irrational group dilemmas. Hardin did not distinguish between open access, common property and common goods.
- 13. Lab resultsWhen individualsmake anonymous decisions and do not communicate and are and over harvest is present at very high rates … even worst than initially predicted
- 14. The perspective ofthe Tragedy of the CommonsPresumes that group members are never able to communicate and coordinate around a collective benefit.Presumes that most individuals are always trapped and in a situation of impossibility to cooperate, because individual´ s restriction will always end up benefiting others than those who stand by their commitments.
- 15. The perspective ofthe Tragedy of the CommonsProposes panaceas as universal optimal options for the management of the commons: state centralized control or privatization are the only viable answers for the sustained/efficient governance of all type of goods. They presume that most individuals are trapped while a few others are almost omnipotent.Has purposely influenced public policies without a proper understanding of the causes behind the failure or success of collective institutions.
- 16. Privatization Proposals:Perceive collectiveproperty as absence of duties and rights, as absence of property.Presume that the division of goods in small units and their privatization always creates ecological rationality.Does not recognize the difficulty or impossibility to divide many resources.Does not recognize that the incentives of private owners are not always compatible with the sustainable use of common goods.
- 17. Central State ControlProposalsPresume that governments (particularly central governments) can define what is sustainable for a wide variety of circumstances.Have enough monitoring capacities.That the costs of burocracies are non existent or minimal.Do not consider that the incentives of user groups to follow governmental regulations are often scarce.Do not consider the costs of the destruction of local institutions and the creation of open access conditions, in cases where local regulations were in place.
- 18. Institutional Panaceas Veryoften are based in metaphors of ideal states or markets.Make presumptions of over simplified market or states as perfect institutions.Do not have an adequate theory of common goods.They are often dysfunctional, have frequent perverse, unexpected outcomes.
- 19. Mancur OlsonIndividuals access a collective good moved by their own interest.They only contribute to the maintenance of the good if: they are members of smalls group and if they face an external authoritarian rule.
- 20. Identifying the CommonsPropertyRightsGlobalCoordinationInter nationalCarbon MarketsTransboundary River BasinsStateNationSpaceForestsCollective ActionReservoirsWatershed managementIrrigationCom-munitySeed SystemsIPMTerracingCheck damsAgroforestryPlotNew seedsSoil CarbonShortLongTime
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- 22. Images of RightsConventionalRigid,unchanging
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- 30. Multiple uses, usersDefinitionsof Property Rights“The capacity to call upon the collective to stand behind one’s claim to a benefit stream (Bromley)”“Claims that are recognized as legitimate” (ff. Wiber)Only as strong as the institutions that back them up Different legitimizing institutions
- 31. Legal PluralismRecognize manysources of rightsState lawProject regulations“Customary” lawReligious lawLocal normsInteraction between legal frameworks
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- 33. Bundles of RightsUserights:Access , WithdrawalControl rights:ExclusionManagementAlienation (transfer)Usufruct (earn income from)Strengthening someone’s control rights weakens others’ use rights
- 34. Classic Property RightsSystemsBundles of RightsAccessWithdrawalClassic CommonsPublic PropertyPrivate PropertyCommon PropertyManagementExclusionAlienationStateCollectiveIndividualHolder of Rights
- 35. Overlapping Bundles andHolders of RightsBundles of RightsAccessGrazingOff-seasonCroppingWithdrawalCropping choicesLand use decisionsManagementPlanting TreesExclusionAllocation to membersState claimsAlienationSales to outsidersStateCollectiveIndividualHolder of Rights
- 36. Forum ShoppingStart withpeople’s experience with access and control of resourcesIndividuals base their claims on whichever legal framework will give them the best hearingRights are negotiated, contestedSource of flexibility, change
- 37. Importance of PropertyRights-1IncentivesRights as reward for investmentUsers reap benefits of good management, bear costs of mismanagementFor this to be effective, need to go beyond “sense of ownership”
- 38. Importance of PropertyRights-2Authorization, control over resourceAbility to exclude outsidersRegulate members’ use of resourceTransform the resourceDecision-making authority
- 39. Importance of PropertyRights-3WelfareDistribution of resourcesRights=assets, reduce vulnerability“Fuzzy” property rights, or access options, may be important for survival, fallback options
- 40. Importance of PropertyRights-4EmpowermentProperty rights give statusTo households in communityTo individuals (women) in householdDecision-making authorityStanding with the government
- 41. The commonsThey arebetter managed, administered, governed based on the agreement of key (direct or indirect) users.Beyond cultural and context variability a common problem remains: how to coordinate the use of a resource used by numerous individuals maintaining an optimal rate of production and joint use.
- 42. Empirical evidenceThousands ofstudies of long-enduring management of commons under common property systemsSee www.iasc-commons.org: Digital Library of the Commons, IASC Impact Stories Youtube section and …..
- 43. The sustainable managementof the commonsFaces different dilemmas.Requires collective action.Poses important transaction costs.
- 44. The sustainable managementof the commons faces “collective action dilemmas”The dilemma of credible commitment.The dilemma of efficient and legitimate monitoring (monitoring costs, accountability and legitimacy).The dilemma of institutional offer.Dilemmas nested in other dilemmas.Central role of trust in coping with dilemmas
- 45. Common goods´ managementproblems: appropriationIt refers to the need to use resource units without affecting the resource system productive capacities.They often refer to the volume of resource units harvested/use but depending on the type of resource and the type of use they may include other issues (time of use, location, and in general impacts on the system).Appropriation rules need to be addressed with appropriation rules.
- 46. Common goods´ managementproblems: provisionIt refers to the different conditions required for the maintenance of the resource system. It includes actions oriented towards protection, monitoring and sanction as well as investments in operational rule design.It implies investments of time, knowledge, money and/or other resources.Provision problems need to be addressed with provision rules.
- 47. In a largesense the commons Are CPR with important appropriation and provision problems resultant of particular conditions of high rivalry and difficult exclusion andPublic resources traditionally with provision problems, resultant from the difficulty to exclude potential users from resource access (resources opened to the public) who often lack incentives to contribute to the provision of the good (or service).
- 48. Other conditions ofthe commonsConjunction: Capacities of resource systems to support multiple users without significantly diminishing the aggregate benefits produced by the system.Indivisibility: Limits within which the division of common goods do not alter sustainable management and the value of their production.
- 49. RulesEnable (whatis possible): canProhibit (what is not possible): cannotObligate (what has to be done): must
- 50. INSTITUTIONSSet of rules in use, used to define: who can make decisions in a certain arena, which actions are allowed or prohibited and under which circumstances, which set of rules has to be used in particular contexts, which procedures have to be followed, which information should be provided or not, which “payments” individuals should receive depending on their actions.
- 51. Rules as InstitutionsRulesare institutionalized when those more affected by then are aware of their existence, expect that others monitor their compliance with them and their un-compliance will be sanctioned.Common sense presumes that each participant in a certain arena has full knowledge of the rules and knows that the rest of the group members also know the rules, and know that the rest know the rules. In the real world this is seldom the caseCommunication and understanding of the rules are needed for the implementation and enforcement of the rules, they demand diverse actions and pose diverse costs.
- 52. Types of RulesBoundaryrules (resource and group limits)Position rules (different roles)Choice rules (what can be done)Information rulesAggregation rules (control over)Payoff Rules (costs/benefits)Scope Rules (potential outcomes)
- 53. Different levels ofrulesOperational rules, related to the direct use and maintenance of the resource, including monitoring and sanctioning. They are appropriation and provision rulesCollective choice, establish how operational rules are defined.Constitutional, frame collective choice and operational rules.All the rules are nested in a sets of rules that define how the first group of rules can be modified.
- 54. Changing the rules:Thestrategies that individuals adopt within the frame of a set of rules are modified more frequently than rules.The change of rules increases the level of uncertainty.It is simpler to modify operational rules than collective choice rules. They are easier to modify than constitutional rules.
- 55. Proposals for theanalysis and institutional designThe users of the commons face a variety of appropriation and provision problems whose structures vary from one context to the other.The users of the commons move in different arenas and levels of action.
- 56. Patterns of InteractionCollective
- 57. IndividualOutcomesInstitutional Analysisand Design (IAD)ContextAction ArenaCharacteristics of the ResourceActors (Preferences)Characteristics of the CommunityAction SituationRules in UsePage 49
- 58. The distinction betweentypes of goods and types of property regimes enables the analysisproblems of institutional design (distribution of rights, power and responsibilities between different individuals and groups, rules) adequate for the sustainable management of particular common goods (with particular appropriation and provision needs) in less ideological terms than the polemic around ideal types of property regimes.
- 59. Different institutional designscreate incentives and des-incentives for different resource users to:commit with rules compliance andcommit with the sustainable management of the commons.
- 60. Social CapitalTRUSTLearning totrust others is central for cooperation,Importance to face to face.NETWORKS OF CIVIC COMITMENTFUNCTIONAL INSTITUTIONS
- 61. Design principles, underlyingpractices of successful rule systemsClear boundaries of users and resources,Congruence with local conditions, and between benefits and costs (appropriation and provision)Collective choice arrangements: Users have procedures to make their own rulesRegular monitoring of users and resource conditionsGraduated sanctions seen as legitimateConflict resolution mechanismsRecognition of users´ rights to organizeNested enterprises.
- 62. Conditions of resourcesystems that favor robust institutionsKnowledge of the external and internal boundaries of resource systems.Predictability of the flow of resource units.Perception of the need and viability of collective action to promote conservation or improvement of the condition of resource system.
- 63. Conditions of usergroups that favor robust institutions:Level of dependence on the resource.Previous organizational experience.Shared vision of the resource.Trust and reciprocity.Users with more economic and political power do not benefit from failures of resource regulation.Discount rate.
- 64. Some of Ostrom´s own conclusions Rules need to fit social-ecological contextPolycentric systems may enable a fit between human action situations and nested ecological systemsPanaceas are dysfunctional
- 65. Polycentric institutionsMultiple centersof decision-making, governanceDifferent types of institutions: state, private, collectiveFormal and informalDifferent levels to deal with problems at different levelsDifferent from subsidiarity: not all institutions are hierarchically arranged
Editor's Notes
- #21 This is an adaptation of the “CAPRi box” framework we have used for identifying the relevance of PR and CA in NRMDifferences: goes up to global scaleRange of coordination mechanisms, not just CAMarkets are also possible as coordination mechanismGenerally, CA at lower levels, state more involved at higher