Successful Commons: What's in a Name

Abstract

"What makes common pool institutions (CPIs) successful? In commons studies this question is only seldom asked. Most often success is implicitly assumed. Elinor Ostrom herself used a rather vague definition. Institutions are successful when they enable individuals to achieve productive outcomes in situations where temptations to free-ride and shirk are ever present .1 Others looked more at endurance. If collective action was institutionalised and endured for a longer time span, CPIs are deemed successful. Only when institutions for collective action falter or are abolished, the question of success or the lack thereof, arises."