Local Community Environmental Initiatives

Ostrom's Distinction Between Common Property and Open Access

Definition of Social Norm

Ostrom's Game-Theoretic Models with Social Preferences

Ostrom's Exploration of Community-Held Property Rights

Ostrom's Interdisciplinary Research Methodology

Ostrom's Critique of Repeated Game Theory

Ostrom's Findings on Communication and Informal Agreements in Fostering Cooperation

Self-Governance via Covenants With and Without a Sword

Ostrom's Finding on the Role of Social Norms in Resolving Social Dilemmas

Analyzing a Community Fishery Agreement

A remote mountain village relies on a shared forest for timber. The traditional view suggests that, because no single person owns the forest, each villager will harvest timber unsustainably for their own gain, leading to the forest's eventual depletion. Which of the following statements best distinguishes Elinor Ostrom's research findings as a response to this traditional view?

Community Governance vs. Open Access

Match each concept from the study of common-pool resources with its most accurate description. These concepts help explain how community management can either succeed or fail.

Elinor Ostrom's research concluded that community self-governance is the universally superior method for managing shared resources, proving more effective than government regulation or privatization in all documented cases.

Challenging the Inevitability of Resource Depletion

A mountain community has maintained a shared irrigation system for generations, ensuring water is distributed equitably and the infrastructure is maintained. This outcome contradicts the prediction that shared resources are always destined for depletion. According to the body of research that identified the principles of successful community self-governance, which of the following factors is most critical to explaining this long-term success?

Analyzing the Failure of a Common-Pool Resource Initiative

A community of fishers shares access to a local fishing ground. While some theories predict that each fisher, acting in their own self-interest, would overfish and deplete the resource, this community has successfully sustained the fish population for many years. Research into such successful cases has shown that models based solely on individuals calculating long-term material payoffs are often insufficient. What key observation from this research best explains why these simpler models fail to capture the full reason for the sustained cooperation?

Designing a Community-Based Resource Management Plan