The commons and development: unanswered sociological questions

Abstract

Do processes of political and economic development hinder or promote the creation of common property institutions (CPIs) to govern common pool resources? Despite the seeming importance of this question, development sociologists have never really tried to answer it. This paper explores the intersection of development processes, the commons, and common property institutions and concludes that development has countervailing influences that both impede and promote the formation of CPIs. Institutional expansion centered around the state facilitates the formation of CPIs while market expansion through globalization and labor migration weakens CPIs. Business cycles have similar influences. Economic booms weaken CPIs while subsequent economic downturns increase the likelihood that resource users will form CPIs.