The Political Economy of Change in Property Regimes: A Case Study from Sri Lanka

Abstract

"It has been a major thrust of the literature on common property to challenge Hardin's alleged 'tragedy of the commons' (1968) and to modify the policy recommendations derived from it, which focused on privatisation or state intervention. The ongoing research has shown that common property regimes are often superior to private property, both in terms of efficiency, equity, and sustainability. Such type of research typically led to normative policy recommendations in the sense that the state should restore and protect common property institutions. However, the positive analysis of the political process involved in the change of property regimes has, so far, received less attention in theoretical and empirical literature on common property institutions. This type of research, however, would be necessary to find out if and how the normative policy recommendations concerning the change of property regimes can actually be implemented.

"Against this background, the present paper deals with the positive analysis of the political process involved in the change of property regimes. The paper suggests a theoretical framework which draws on concepts of the New Institutional Economics (NIE) and on collective action theory. The proposed framework is illustrated by an empirical case study on the change of property regimes in the Hambantota District of Sri Lanka. The paper is organized as follows: Section 2 introduces the empirical case study material. In Section 3, four steps of analysing the political process of change in property regimes are suggested and illustrated by the empirical case study. Conclusions are drawn in Section 4."