The Uncommon Knowledge of Elinor Ostrom: Essential Lessons for Collective Action Erik Nordman, Ph.D.
Suggested Weekly Course Schedule The Uncommon Knowledge of Elinor Ostrom makes a great book for a course specifically on collaborative governance of commons, as a seminar, or as a supplemental text in environmental studies or science classes. The textbook Sustaining the Commons (2nd edition) makes an excellent companion to The Uncommon Knowledge of Elinor Ostrom. Vlad Tarko’s book, Elinor Ostrom: An Intellectual Biography is another good introduction to Ostrom’s work, especially for graduate students. I also selected an article to accompany each week’s reading. These might be appropriate for advanced undergraduates or graduate students. Feel free to mix and match the supplemental readings, or choose other ones that interest your students. The Ostrom Workshop at Indiana University has resources for those wishing to teach about Lin and Vincent Ostrom’s work on collaborative management and democratic institutions. The Workshop also maintains the Digital Library of the Commons which includes peer-reviewed articles, conference papers, technical reports, and other documents related to the governance of common pool resources. Teaching the Workshop: https://ostromworkshop.indiana.edu/library/teaching-resources/index.html Digital Library of the Commons: https://dlc.dlib.indiana.edu/dlc/ Week
Agenda Topic(s)
Introduction 1
2
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Pre-class Readings from The Uncommon Knowledge of Elinor Ostrom Ch. 1 What’s So Tragic About the Commons?
Groundwater management
Ch. 2 Los Angeles Groundwater
Fishing Game theory
Ch. 3 Maine’s Lobster Gangs Optional Movie: Lobster War
Supplemental readings
Sustaining the Commons Ch. 1 Why Study the Commons? The tragedy of the commons (G. Hardin) The Logic of Collective Action, Ch. 1 (M. Olson) Sustaining the Commons Ch. 5 Water Governance Sustainable groundwater management in California: A grand experiment in environmental governance (Lubell et al.) Sustaining the Commons Ch. 4 Social Dilemmas The evolution of conservation rules and norms in the Maine lobster industry (Acheson & Gardner) To protect ocean environments, 'good enough' might be the best long-term option (Nava & Quitana)
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Week
Agenda Topic(s)
Institutions 4
Irrigation systems 5
6
Introduction to the Institutional Analysis and Development Framework Forest commons
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Pre-class Readings from The Uncommon Knowledge of Elinor Ostrom Movie: Actual World, Possible Futures (documentary on Elinor and Vincent Ostrom) Ch. 4 Spain’s Ancient Water Court
Ch. 5 Institutions for Collaborative Forest Management
Climate change Polycentric governance
Ch. 6 The Climate Commons
Norms and voluntary actions
Ch. 7 Voluntary Environmental Programs
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9
10
Social-Ecological Systems
Space Commons
Ch. 8 Commons in Space
Digital and Knowledge Commons
Ch. 9. Commons in the Digital World
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12
13
The Bloomington School of Political Economy and the
Supplemental readings
Sustaining the Commons Ch. 2 Defining Institutions An agenda for the study of institutions (Ostrom) Sustaining the Commons Ch. 7 Design Principles to Sustain the Commons Design principles in long-enduring irrigation institutions (Ostrom) Sustaining the Commons Ch. 3 Action Arenas and Action Situations An institutional framework for policy analysis and design (Polski and Ostrom) Sustaining the Commons Ch. 6 Harvesting from the Commons Structuring institutional analysis for urban ecosystems: A key to sustainable urban forest management (Mincey et al.) Sustaining the Commons Ch. 14 Think Globally Act Locally? Polycentric systems for coping with collective action and global environmental change (Ostrom) Polycentric systems of governance: A theoretical model of the commons (Carlisle & Gruby) Sustaining the Commons Ch. 8 Social Dilemmas in the Laboratory Can social norm interventions promote voluntary pro environmental action? (Huber et al.) Sustaining the Commons Ch. 13 Coupled Infrastructure Systems Putting the “E” in SES: unpacking the ecology in the Ostrom social-ecological system framework (Vogt et al.) Sustaining the Commons Ch. 9 Selfgovernance in the laboratory Application of Ostrom’s Principles for Sustainable Governance of Common‐Pool Resources to Near‐Earth Orbit (JohnsonFreese & Weeden) Sustaining the Commons Ch. 12 Feedbacks and Stability Privacy governing knowledge in public Facebook groups for political activism (Sanfilippo & Strandburg) Governing their commons: Elinor and Vincent Ostrom and the Bloomington School (Herzberg)
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Week
Agenda Topic(s)
Pre-class Readings from The Uncommon Knowledge of Elinor Ostrom
New Institutional Economics Wrap up 14
Ch. 10 A Nobel for Institutions and a Pathbreaking Life
Supplemental readings
The future of new institutional economics: from early intuitions to a new paradigm? (Ménard & Shirley) Sustaining the Commons Ch. 15 Challenges Ahead Beyond markets and states: Polycentric governance of complex economic systems (Ostrom)
Suggested readings Acheson, J. M., and R. Gardner. 2010. The evolution of conservation rules and norms in the Maine lobster industry. Ocean & Coastal Management. 53(9):524–534. Abel, D., and A. Laub. 2018. Lobster War. Available online at: https://lobsterwar.com/; last accessed July 3, 2021. Allen, B. 2020. Actual World, Possible Future. WTIU Documentaries. Available online at: https://www.pbs.org/video/actual-world-possible-future-09rkab/. Anderies, J. M., and M. A. Janssen. 2016. Sustaining the Commons. Center for Behavior, Institutions, and the Environment - Arizona State University. Available online at: https://sustainingthecommons.asu.edu/; last accessed August 8, 2018. Carlisle, K., and R. L. Gruby. 2019. Polycentric Systems of Governance: A Theoretical Model for the Commons. Policy Studies Journal. 47(4):927–952. Hardin, G. 1968. The Tragedy of the Commons. Science. 162(3859):1243–1248. Herzberg, R. Q. 2015. Governing their commons: Elinor and Vincent Ostrom and the Bloomington School. Public Choice. 163(1/2):95–109. Huber, R. A., B. Anderson, and T. Bernauer. 2018. Can social norm interventions promote voluntary pro environmental action? Environmental Science & Policy. 89:231–246. Johnson‐Freese, J., and B. Weeden. 2012. Application of Ostrom’s Principles for Sustainable Governance of Common-Pool Resources to Near-Earth Orbit. Global Policy. 3(1):72–81. Lubell, M., W. Blomquist, and L. Beutler. 2020. Sustainable Groundwater Management in California: A Grand Experiment in Environmental Governance. Society & Natural Resources. 33(12):1447– 1467. Ménard, C., and M. M. Shirley. 2014. The future of new institutional economics: from early intuitions to a new paradigm? Journal of Institutional Economics. 10(4):541–565. Mincey, S. K., M. Hutten, B. C. Fischer, T. P. Evans, S. I. Stewart, and J. M. Vogt. 2013. Structuring institutional analysis for urban ecosystems: A key to sustainable urban forest management. Urban Ecosyst. 16(3):553–571. Nava, A. G., and A. Quintana. 2021. To protect ocean environments, “good enough” might be the best long-term option. The Conversation. Available online at: http://theconversation.com/to-protectocean-environments-good-enough-might-be-the-best-long-term-option-160973; last accessed May 26, 2021. Olson, M. 1965. The logic of collective action. Harvard University Press. 176 p. Ostrom, E. 1986. An Agenda for the Study of Institutions. Public Choice. 48(1):3–25. Ostrom, E. 2010a. Beyond Markets and States: Polycentric Governance of Complex Economic Systems. American Economic Review. 100(3):641–672. Ostrom, E. 1993. Design principles in long-enduring irrigation institutions. Water Resources Research. 29(7):1907–1912. 3
Ostrom, E. 2010b. Polycentric systems for coping with collective action and global environmental change. Global Environmental Change. 20(4):550–557. Polski, M., and E. Ostrom. 2017. An institutional framework for policy analysis and design. P. 13–48 in Elinor Ostrom and the Bloomington School of Political Economy, Lexington Books. Available online at: http://books.google.com/books/about/Elinor_Ostrom_and_the_Bloomington_School.html?id=qS KeDgAAQBAJ; last accessed May 13, 2019. Sanfilippo, M. R., and K. J. Strandburg. 2019. Privacy governing knowledge in public Facebook groups for political activism. Information, Communication & Society. 0(0):1–18. Tarko, V. 2016. Elinor Ostrom: An Intellectual Biography. Rowman & Littlefield International. 190 p. Vogt, J. M., G. B. Epstein, S. K. Mincey, B. C. Fischer, and P. McCord. 2015. Putting the “E” in SES: unpacking the ecology in the Ostrom social-ecological system framework. Ecology and Society. 20(1) Available online at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/26269770; last accessed May 10, 2021.
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