Ostrom in the midst of crises
Three decades ago Elinor Ostrom (1933–2012) recorded her research into a phenomenal book: Governing the Commons: The Evolution of the Institution of Collective Action. The book has inspired not only research communities but various social movements seeking alternative governance outside the state and market in managing common resources, “the commons”. What is further known as a Common Pool Resources (CPR).
Various applications in various fields have inspired and reached many scientific disciplines. Not limited only to the economic, political and institutional fields. Social sciences, anthropology, game theory, setting, forestry, ecology, complexities, and many more. The evolution of the idea, the theory that awarded her the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2009.
The intellectual journey and research of CPR in many countries, both carried out by herself and her colleagues, have produced eight institutional design principles for a strong governance:
(1). Boundaries of users and resource are clear
(2). Congruence between benefits and costs.
(3). Users had procedures for making own rules
(4). Regular monitoring of users and resource conditions
(5). Graduated sanctions
(6). Conflict resolution mechanisms
(7). Minimal recognition of rights by government
(8). Nested enterprises.
Two other phenomenal books in elaborating her ideas: Rule, Games and Common-Pool Resources (1994) and Understanding Institutional Diversity (2005).
In the context of natural resource and environmental governance, Ostrom (2010) proposes a polycentric governance approach as a complement to monocentric governance which is proven not very effective in accommodating all potential stakeholders. Perhaps this is what inspires the support for the role of non-state actors as an integral part of building collective agreements in carrying out the sustainability agenda.
The ideas and theories developed have also enriched the understanding of the complexity of human and natural relations, and rolled into a Social-Ecological Systems (SES) framework. Issues that are very relevant to the current pandemic crisis situation. A process that was actually expected from the begining, the management of CPR that ignored this relationship led to an ongoing crisis: climate and ecology.
On October 2nd, I participated in the 30th anniversary of Ostrom commemoration, facilitated by the Ostrom Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis, Indiana University, which was originally founded by Elinor Ostrom and her husband Vincent Ostrom. It is a place where the exchange of ideas, knowledge and research findings on CPR is debated from around the world. The “commoners”.
Many of her enlightening reflective notes were shared by fellow researchers, her students, or who continued to elaborate and develop Ostrom’s ideas, including issues of industrial transformation and climate change.
Ostrom has built ideas and theories not only at the experimental level, but developed a foundation for how rules and norms should not be a separate part of articulating economic and political interests over space. It is not only a matter of managing local resources, but also the complexity of the issues and its relation to global problems.
This concern is very relevant to what is happening everywhere today. This includes resolving various spatial conflicts like what indigenous peoples are experiencing today.
The current pandemic crisis requires a new way of looking at the problem and remedy it. The eight design principles formulated above may be an inspiration to explore how natural resource management, the environment and climate change have been liberalized without control and caused the current crisis.
Perhaps this is a reflective message that I caught as one of the #commoners followers.
