The Emergence and Outcomes of Collective Action: An Institutional and Ecosystem Approach

Abstract

"Studies of collective action often focus on features of the participants and the managed ecosystem. The social analysis of the participants helps to uncover the factors driving participation in those local enterprises such as individual interest to participate and ability of the group to organize. An ecological analysis of the managed ecosystem helps to unveil how characteristics of a resource influence the type of appropriation system that is designed and how the local institutional arrangement influences the sustainability of common-pool resources. In this paper, we broaden the social and ecological context of the analysis of common-pool resources by investigating the features of non-participants, in addition to participants, to explore the factors that cause individuals to refrain from contributing in collective action."