Elinor Ostrom’s 8 Principles for Managing a Commons
Commons need to have clearly defined boundaries with a specified community of benefit.
Match rules governing use of common goods to local needs and conditions.
Ensure that those affected by the rules can participate in modifying the rules.
Once rules have been set, communities need a way of checking that people are keeping them. Commons don’t run on good will, but on accountability.
Develop a system, carried out by community members, for those who abuse the commons. Banning people who break rules creates resentment. Instead, use systems of warnings and informal reputation consequences.
When issues come up, resolving them should be informal, cheap and straightforward. That means that anyone can take their problems for mediation, and nobody is shut out.
Your commons rules won’t count for anything if a higher local authority doesn’t recognize them as legitimate.
A commons is a fractal in a larger ecosystem. What happens locally affects what happens regionally, globally, and the other way as well.
Prosocial is a practice for helping any group, anywhere in the world, work better together.
| Elinor Ostrom | Prosocial | Two words | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Define clear group boundaries | Shared identity and purpose | Shared purpose |
| 2 | Rules should fit local circumstances | Equitable distribution of contributions and benefits | Participation agreements |
| 3 | Participatory decision-making is vital. | ||
| Fair and inclusive decision making | Participatory decision-making | ||
| 4 | Commons must be monitored | Monitoring agreed behaviors | Peer accountability |
| 5 | Graduated sanctions for rule violators | Graduated responding to helpful and unhelpful behavior | Stewarded behavior |
| 6 | Conflict resolution should be easily accessible | Fast and fair conflict resolution | Regenerative mediation |
| 7 | Commons recognized by higher-level authorities | Authority to self-govern (according to principles 1–6) | Self-organized sovereignty |
| 8 | Commons work best when nested within larger networks | Collaborative relations with other groups (using principles 1–7) | Collective impact |