Abstract

Human institutions—ways of organizing activities—affect the resilience of the environment. Locally evolved institutional arrangements governed by stable communities and buffered from outside forces have sustained resources successfully for centuries, although they often fail when rapid change occurs. Ideal conditions for governance are increasingly rare. Critical problems, such as transboundary pollution, tropical deforestation, and climate change, are at larger scales and involve nonlocal influences. Promising strategies for addressing these problems include dialogue among interested parties, officials, and scientists; complex, redundant, and layered institutions; a mix of institutional types; and designs that facilitate experimentation, learning, and change.

Keywords

CommonsCorporate governanceClimate changeDeforestation (computer science)Psychological resilienceIdeal (ethics)Resilience (materials science)Affect (linguistics)Political scienceBusinessEnvironmental planningPolitical economyEnvironmental resource managementLaw and economicsSociologyEcologyEconomicsComputer scienceLawGeographyBiologyPsychologySocial psychology

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Publication Info

Year
2003
Type
article
Volume
302
Issue
5652
Pages
1907-1912
Citations
4011
Access
Closed

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Cite This

Thomas Dietz, Элинор Остром, Paul C. Stern (2003). The Struggle to Govern the Commons. Science , 302 (5652) , 1907-1912. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1091015

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DOI
10.1126/science.1091015