The Comparative Governance of Common Pool Resources

Previous research on the governance of common pool resources has focused on the role of formal and informal institutions (Olson 1965, Ostrom 1993). This research has been fruitful, although largely theoretical. What is needed is more empirical examples of how common pool resources are governed in the real world and to what degree ideas in the theoretical literature are actually implemented by conservationists and policy makers. Additionally, the theoretical literature tends to lump together all common resources, without recognizing that different types of common pool resources may require different governance regimes, depending on the nature of the resource and its requirements for conservation and sustainability.