The DOI matches its Crossref record; 1 of the 1 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action
Abstract
The governance of natural resources used by many individuals in common is an issue of increasing concern to policy analysts. Both state control and privatization of resources have been advocated, but neither the state nor the market have been uniformly successful in solving common pool resource problems. After critiquing the foundations of policy analysis as applied to natural resources, Elinor Ostrom here provides a unique body of empirical data to explore conditions under which common pool resource problems have been satisfactorily or unsatisfactorily solved. Dr Ostrom uses institutional analysis to explore different ways - both successful and unsuccessful - of governing the commons. In contrast to the proposition of the 'tragedy of the commons' argument, common pool problems sometimes are solved by voluntary organizations rather than by a coercive state. Among the cases considered are communal tenure in meadows and forests, irrigation communities and other water rights, and fisheries.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“These innovations exemplify what Ostrom (2015) terms “governance design principles”/; institutional arrangements that enable sustainable citizen engagement beyond individual leadership.”
From Transcending Boundaries: Sushma Swaraj and the Multidimensional Paradigm of Women's Empowerment in Political Leadership (2025) · cites this paper as Ostrom (2015)
In the citing paper
“This is the approach adopted in conservation biology, where crises observed across multiple contexts (e.g., ecosystem collapse, mismanaged commons) lead to an understanding of multiscaled dynamics yielding solutions that can be tailored to given sociological and ecological contexts (8, 47, 64).”
From Stewardship of global collective behavior (2021) · cites this paper as [47]
Citations
Cites
The publisher hasn’t deposited this paper’s reference list.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 301–400 of 950
Mapping the expansion of berry greenhouses onto Michoacán’s ejido lands, México
Hartman, S., Gutiérrez, M. F., Hoogesteger, J., & D’Odorico, P. (2022) · Environmental Research Letters · doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ac9ac8 · Cited by 7
How personnel allocation affects performance: Evidence from Brazil's federal protected areas agency
Greenstein, G. (2023) · Public Administration · doi:10.1111/padm.12954 · Cited by 6
Istiyani, A., & Handayani, W. (2022) · The Indonesian Journal of Planning and Development · doi:10.14710/ijpd.7.2.51-59 · Cited by 6
Properties of air: Wind resourcification via assetization in the republic of Ireland
Wade, R. (2025) · Environment and Planning E Nature and Space · doi:10.1177/25148486251332779 · Cited by 6
Kloosterman, R. A., Veeneman, W. W., & van der Hoek, J. P. (2020) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su12030785 · Cited by 6
Wagner, D. N. (2020) · Advances in marketing, customer relationship management, and e-services book series · doi:10.4018/978-1-7998-5077-9.ch008 · Cited by 6
Place-Based Co-production. Working with Voluntarism in Danish Urban Regeneration
Agger, A., & Jensen, J. O. (2021) · Palgrave studies in third sector research · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-72315-6_11 · Cited by 6
Mamada, R., & Perrings, C. A. (2021) · International Game Theory Review · doi:10.1142/s0219198921500092 · Cited by 6
Achieving Industry-aligned Education through Digital-Commons: A Case Study
Ramakrishnan, M., Gregor, S. D., Shrestha, A., & Soar, J. (2022) · Journal of Computer Information Systems · doi:10.1080/08874417.2022.2115955 · Cited by 7
Aquifers and climate: Incentives, information and institutions
Echeverría, J. M. A. (2022) · Groundwater for Sustainable Development · doi:10.1016/j.gsd.2022.100900 · Cited by 6
Mwamidi, D. M., Nunow, A. A., & Domínguez, P. (2023) · African Journal of Range and Forage Science · doi:10.2989/10220119.2022.2138972 · Cited by 6
Land cover change effects from community forest management in Michoacán, Mexico
Ordóñez, P. J., Baylis, K., & Ramírez, M. I. (2023) · Environmental Research Letters · doi:10.1088/1748-9326/accdef · Cited by 6
GitHub OSS Governance File Dataset
Yan, Y., Frey, S., Zhang, A. X., Filkov, V., & Yin, L. (2023) · International Conference on Mining Software Repositories (MSR) · doi:10.1109/msr59073.2023.00089 · Cited by 6
The nomos of mobile commons: towards a nomadic constitution of Europe
Moll, Ł. (2023) · Citizenship Studies · doi:10.1080/13621025.2023.2237424 · Cited by 6
Pérez, I., Tenza-Peral, A., Soler-Navarro, D. J., la Iglesia, D. A.-D., & Garate-Marín, C. (2023) · International Review of Public Policy · doi:10.4000/irpp.3332 · Cited by 6
El aparato teórico en la estructura tradicional del sistema de propiedad intelectual
Jaramillo, J. C. C. (2017) · Vniversitas · doi:10.11144/javeriana.vj135.atet · Cited by 6
Cavé, J. (2018) · Revue internationale des études du développement · doi:10.3917/ried.233.0117 · Cited by 6
Oh, W. S., & Muneepeerakul, R. (2019) · Humanities and Social Sciences Communications · doi:10.1057/s41599-019-0289-7 · Cited by 6
Sustainability Transitions from an Ecological Economic Perspective
Røpke, I. (2019) · Ecology Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal · doi:10.37773/ees.v2i1.50 · Cited by 6
Terrieux, A., Gafsi, M., & Fiaschi, U. (2021) · Développement durable et territoires · doi:10.4000/developpementdurable.18804 · Cited by 13
Smart Socio-Technical Environments: a Paternalistic and Humanistic Management Proposal
Carabantes, M. (2021) · Philosophy & Technology · doi:10.1007/s13347-021-00471-6 · Cited by 7
“In the tragedy of the commons, an undesired result is produced by the participating actors as a consequence of the sum of a large set of actions that, from an individualized point of view, can be considered rational (Hardin, 1968; Ostrom, 2015).”
BackgroundThe Employment Ecosystem of Bizkaia as an Emerging Common in the Face of the Impact of COVID-19
Ordeñana, E. A., Calvo-Sotomayor, I., & Martínez, T. L. (2021) · Social Sciences · doi:10.3390/socsci10110407 · Cited by 6
Growing Trees for a Degrowth Society: An Approach to Switzerland's Forest Sector
Creutzburg, L. (2021) · Environmental Values · doi:10.3197/096327121x16387842836959 · Cited by 6
Calvo-Sotomayor, I., & Ordeñana, E. A. (2022) · Frontiers in Public Health · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2022.792287 · Cited by 7
Bousema, I., Busscher, T., Rauws, W. S., et al. (2022) · Administration & Society · doi:10.1177/00953997221109308 · Cited by 6
COVID Policy and Urban Food Markets in Peru: Governance and Compliance
Ton, G., Espinoza, M., & Fort, R. (2023) · The Journal of Development Studies · doi:10.1080/00220388.2023.2178303 · Cited by 6
Communs numériques : une nouvelle forme d’action collective ?
Clément‐Fontaine, M., de Rosnay, M. D., Jullien, N., & Zimmermann, J. (2021) · Terminal · doi:10.4000/terminal.7509 · Cited by 10
Not one Brexit: How local context and social processes influence policy analysis
Ge, J., Polhill, G., Matthews, K. B., et al. (2018) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0208451 · Cited by 6
Obstacles and Motivators for Partnership Formation in a Multidimensional Environment
Fowler, L. (2019) · Politics & Policy · doi:10.1111/polp.12293 · Cited by 6
Tsoukas, H., Sandberg, J., Fayard, A., et al. (2024) · Organization Studies · doi:10.1177/01708406241273000 · Cited by 6
Rigkos‐Zitthen, I., & Kapitsinis, N. (2025) · Space and Polity · doi:10.1080/13562576.2025.2511952 · Cited by 5
Storr, V. H., Craig, A. W., & Storr, N. M. (2025) · International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction · doi:10.1016/j.ijdrr.2025.105661 · Cited by 5
From Silos to Synergy: Improving Coordination in Local Flood Management
de Boer, W., Flath, L., Knodt, M., et al. (2025) · Water · doi:10.3390/w17152212 · Cited by 5
Beckert, J., & Stamm, I. K. (2025) · British Journal of Sociology · doi:10.1111/1468-4446.70015 · Cited by 6
Co-evolution of conditional cooperation and social norm
Battu, B. (2023) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-023-43918-w · Cited by 7
Populism and the commons in the Anthropocene: Exploring a fitting political strategy for our epoch
Rigkos‐Zitthen, I. (2025) · Human Geography · doi:10.1177/19427786251330948 · Cited by 5
Nissen, L. B. (2025) · doi:10.1093/9780197665220.001.0001 · Cited by 6
Learning Through Fictitious Play in a Game-Theoretic Model of Natural Resource Consumption
Manzoor, T., Rovenskaya, E., Davydov, A. A., et al. (2017) · IEEE Control Systems Letters · doi:10.1109/lcsys.2017.2777898 · Cited by 5
Les implications d’une circularisation des métabolismes territoriaux – une revue de la littérature
Kampelmann, S., & Muynck, S. D. (2019) · Pour · doi:10.3917/pour.236.0151 · Cited by 5
AgriForEst : un jeu pour élaborer des scénarios sur un terroir villageois d’Afrique Centrale
Fauvelle, É., & García, C. (2018) · VertigO · doi:10.4000/vertigo.23245 · Cited by 7
The early modern “creation” of property and its enduring influence
Olsen, E. J. (2019) · European Journal of Political Theory · doi:10.1177/1474885119882146 · Cited by 5
The HPC Certification Forum: Toward a Globally Acknowledged HPC Certification
Kunkel, J. M., Filinger, W., Meesters, C., et al. (2020) · Computing in Science & Engineering · doi:10.1109/mcse.2020.2996073 · Cited by 5
Torre, C. D., Ravazzoli, E., Omizzolo, A., Gretter, A., & Membretti, A. (2021) · Revue de géographie alpine · doi:10.4000/rga.8660 · Cited by 5
DESIGNING WITH EMOTIONAL AWARENESS
Bianconi, F., Filippucci, M., Magrini, G., et al. (2021) · The international archives of the photogrammetry, remote sensing and spatial information sciences/International archives of the photogrammetry, remote sensing and spatial information sciences · doi:10.5194/isprs-archives-xlvi-m-1-2021-55-2021 · Cited by 5
Politische Bildung im Zeichen von Anthropozän und Klimakrise
Seider, T. (2021) · Politische Bildungen · doi:10.1007/978-3-658-33077-4_3 · Cited by 5
Christensen, L. D. (2022) · Environment Development and Sustainability · doi:10.1007/s10668-021-02052-1 · Cited by 5
Phatthanaphraiwan, S., Zeitler, L., & Fairfield, B. (2022) · Forest and Society · doi:10.24259/fs.v6i2.20962 · Cited by 5
Prieto, A. M. H. (2022) · Antípoda Revista de Antropología y Arqueología · doi:10.7440/antipoda49.2022.06 · Cited by 5
Linear Parks as Urban Commons—Considerations from Mexico City
Buratti, S., & Merino‐Pérez, L. (2023) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su15129542 · Cited by 5
Cuntò, S., Muccio, E., Sacco, S., et al. (2023) · Lecture notes in computer science · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-37129-5_20 · Cited by 5
Compagnucci, M. C., Nilsson, N. E., Stankovski, P., Olsson, C., Fenwick, M., Minssen, T., & Szkalej, K. (2023) · International Review of Law Computers & Technology · doi:10.1080/13600869.2023.2233803 · Cited by 9
CLIMAVORE: Divesting from Fish Farms Towards the Tidal Commons
Pascual, D. F., & Schwabe, A. (2024) · Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10806-024-09923-3 · Cited by 6
Rigkos‐Zitthen, I., & Kapitsinis, N. (2024) · Environment and Planning C Politics and Space · doi:10.1177/23996544241282844 · Cited by 5
Stability of Leaderless Resource Consumption Networks
Ruf, S. F., Hale, M., Manzoor, T., et al. (2018) · Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Decision & Control, including the Symposium on Adaptive Processes · doi:10.1109/cdc.2018.8619010 · Cited by 5
Murphy, J. T., Altaweel, M. R., Ozik, J., et al. (2019) · Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Water · doi:10.1002/wat2.1384 · Cited by 5
Caron, P. (2020) · Agriculture and Human Values · doi:10.1007/s10460-020-10065-1 · Cited by 5
“Commons offer an asset (Elinor 1995) and the design of common projects a way between State and market for addressing future challenges.”
BackgroundPotop-Butucaru, M. (2021) · Lecture notes in computer science · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-67087-0_3 · Cited by 5
Valiorgue, B., & Hollandts, X. (2020) · Management international · doi:10.7202/1074365ar · Cited by 7
Ermakova, A. O., Terry, M., & Trout, K. (2022) · Bradleya · doi:10.25223/brad.sp40.2022.a8 · Cited by 6
Terms of engagement: mobilising citizens in edible nature-based solutions
Edwards, F., Manderscheid, M., & Parham, S. (2023) · Journal of Urbanism International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability · doi:10.1080/17549175.2023.2218356 · Cited by 5
Gretter, A., Rizzi, C., Favargiotti, S., et al. (2018) · Revue de géographie alpine · doi:10.4000/rga.4499 · Cited by 5
Borck, L., & Clark, J. J. (2021) · Power from Below in Premodern Societies · doi:10.1017/9781009042826.012 · Cited by 4
Finance for Climate Action: Postcovid-19 Recovery Challenges
Boncheva, A. I. (2021) · Revista Mexicana de Economía y Finanzas · doi:10.21919/remef.v17i2.717 · Cited by 5
Change is Afoot: Applying Change Management Theories to Self-Organizing Socio-Technical Systems
Steghöfer, J.-P. (2017) · IEEE Technology and Society Magazine · doi:10.1109/mts.2017.2728735 · Cited by 5
Strategic Corporate PurposePreprint
Albuquerque, R. A., & Cabral, L. (2021) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.3925843 · Cited by 5
Albornoz-Arias, N., Rojas-Sanguino, C., & Santafé-Rojas, A.-K. (2025) · Agriculture · doi:10.3390/agriculture15040370 · Cited by 3
Shi, C., & Sun, L. (2025) · Urban Science · doi:10.3390/urbansci9090382 · Cited by 4
Ujj, A., Pércsi, K. N., Ramos-Diaz, F., Marjanović, J., Horstink, L., Queiroga-Bento, R., Mukosha, C. E., Moudrý, J., Györke, D. K., & Jancsovszka, P. (2025) · Agriculture · doi:10.3390/agriculture15232414 · Cited by 7
Wu, G., Ren, Y., Yang, B., Sun, L., Li, J., & Shi, R. (2026) · Socio-Economic Planning Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.seps.2026.102477 · Cited by 4
Liu, T.-M. (2019) · Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change · doi:10.1080/14766825.2019.1634722 · Cited by 4
Whitaker, M. D. (2021) · Lecture notes in computer science · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-68449-5_41 · Cited by 4
Langle-Flores, A., López-Vázquez, Z., Dagóstino, R. M. C., & Rodríguez, A. A. (2023) · Water · doi:10.3390/w15223975 · Cited by 4
Cornerier, A. (2024) · Cybergeo · doi:10.4000/122yc · Cited by 4
Rituals as Nature-Based Governance of reciprocity between people and nature
Herrmann‐Pillath, C. (2024) · Open Research Europe · doi:10.12688/openreseurope.17206.2 · Cited by 4
Blanco, E., & Donoso, G. (2024) · Water · doi:10.3390/w16162329 · Cited by 4
Institutional corruption: Some issues
Patibandla, M. (2024) · Journal of Economic Surveys · doi:10.1111/joes.12670 · Cited by 4
Rigkos‐Zitthen, I., & Kapitsinis, N. (2025) · Human Geography · doi:10.1177/19427786251321462 · Cited by 4
Xia, G., & Bao, C. (2025) · Water · doi:10.3390/w17111582 · Cited by 4
On commons, state institutions and capitalism
Rigkos‐Zitthen, I., & Kapitsinis, N. (2025) · Geographical Journal · doi:10.1111/geoj.70023 · Cited by 4
Shi, C. (2025) · Land · doi:10.3390/land14081615 · Cited by 4
Can Phones Build Relationships?
Ziegler, M., Wack, M., Ingutia, N., Muiruri, I., Njogu, N., Muriithi, K., Njoroge, W., Long, J. E., & Heimerl, K. (2020) · ACM SIGCAS Conference on Computing and Sustainable Societies (COMPASS) · doi:10.1145/3378393.3402279 · Cited by 4
Institutional Solutions for the Economic Problem of Feral Hogs
ShalekBriski, A., Brorsen, B. W., & Biermacher, J. T. (2020) · Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy · doi:10.1002/aepp.13093 · Cited by 4
Financial Markets: From the “Tragedy of Commons” to Balanced Regulation
Podrugina, A., & Tabakh, A. (2020) · International Organisations Research Journal · doi:10.17323/1996-7845-2020-02-08 · Cited by 4
Une plateforme en pair-à-pair pour l’échange de données
Stiefel, L., & Sandoz, A. (2021) · Terminal · doi:10.4000/terminal.7704 · Cited by 4
Power from Below in the Archaeological Record
Thurston, T. L., & Fernández‐Götz, M. (2021) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781009042826.002 · Cited by 4
Costa, J. D. M., Swatuk, L. A., & Lopes, A. F. (2022) · Environment Development and Sustainability · doi:10.1007/s10668-021-01989-7 · Cited by 4
La solidarité écologique de la science à l’(in)action publique
Mazé, C., & Ragueneau, O. (2022) · VertigO · doi:10.4000/vertigo.38499 · Cited by 4
Azócar, R., & Lichtenstein, G. (2022) · Cahiers des Amériques latines · doi:10.4000/cal.14771 · Cited by 4
Resilient Commoning: The Reproduction of the Basque Commons in the Longue Durée
Olsen, J. (2024) · Antipode · doi:10.1111/anti.13077 · Cited by 4
Merrill, R., & White, L. V. (2017) · Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis Research and Practice · doi:10.1080/13876988.2017.1328781 · Cited by 4
Valiorgue, B. (2018) · RIMHE Revue Interdisciplinaire Management Homme(s) & Entreprise · doi:10.3917/rimhe.031.0094 · Cited by 4
Gretter, A., Rizzi, C., Favargiotti, S., et al. (2018) · Revue de géographie alpine · doi:10.4000/rga.4166 · Cited by 4
Abzug, R., Adewale, A., André, R., et al. (2020) · Organizational Behavior Teaching Review · doi:10.1177/1052562920934155 · Cited by 4
Lehmans, A., Liquète, V., & Coulibaly, M. (2020) · Communication technologies et développement · doi:10.4000/ctd.3201 · Cited by 4
Teaching Commons through the Game of Musical Chairs
Pantazis, A. (2020) · tripleC Communication Capitalism & Critique Open Access Journal for a Global Sustainable Information Society · doi:10.31269/triplec.v18i2.1175 · Cited by 4
Ladu, M., & Bernardini, S. (2020) · Smart innovation, systems and technologies · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-48279-4_95 · Cited by 4
Histoire sociologique d’un mouvement ambigu
Shulz, S. (2021) · Terminal · doi:10.4000/terminal.7684 · Cited by 4
Metadata
- Authors
- Ostrom, E.
- Venue
- Cambridge University Press eBooks
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press
- Published
- 2015-09-23
- OpenAlex
- W4253773297
- Cited by
- 965
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 127 · 2025: 141 · 2024: 101 · 2023: 85 · 2022: 80 · 2021: 117 · 2020: 95 · 2019: 61 · 2018: 87 · 2017: 43 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 5
- FWCI
- 52.59
- Type
- book
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Cambridge University Press eBooks (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Economic Theory and Institutions
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies
- Keywords
- commons governance, common-pool resources, tragedy of the commons, institutional analysis, state control of natural resources, privatization, voluntary organizations, meadows, forests, irrigation communities, water rights, fisheries, natural resource policy
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
