Digital Library of the Commons

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 14

Constitutional Level of Analysis: Problems and Prospects
(1979) Ostrom, Vincent
From p. 20: "The problems and prospects inherent in using the constitutional level of analysis to inform political inquiry are sufficiently great that they deserve careful consideration in laying the theoretical foundations for empirical investigations of political behavior and policy analyses. The theoretical analysis occurs at the constitutional level where inquiry is oriented to a consideration of alternative institutional arrangements. The conduct of empirical investigation occurs at the operational level within the constraints of given institutional structures. If empirical inquiry is to be informed by an appropriate theoretical analysis we need to proceed at both the constitutional and the operational levels of analysis. If we do so we may discover important links between political theory, political practice, and political science. We would then be in a position to test propositions about whether political structures do make a difference in the way that people are governed and live their lives in human societies. "Considering the nature of human artisanship we need to come to terms with conceptions of political structures as entailing more than words on paper. No one would expect a chemical formula to work by itself. Political institutions entail political artisans as well as political formulas. Then we learn how to treat artisans, and the conceptions they use, as informing conduct in relation to structures we may be in a position to determine the relationship of the structure of institutional arrangements to the consequences that flow for human societies. This requires more than the study of behavior per se. The constitutional level of analysis must accompany the operational level of analysis in the study of political phenomena not as natural phenomena, but as artifactual phenomena."
Strategy and the Structure of Interdependent Decision-Making Mechanisms
(1967) Ostrom, Elinor
From p. 54: The paradigm presented ... begins to sketch in the type of analysis that one could undertake when examining the affect of decision-making structures on individual behavior. It is hoped that the paradigm will be of help in stimulating further theoretical and empirical work on the relation between the structure of decision-making mechanisms and the strategies of individuals employ when attempting to reach solutions to problems through the utilization of different structures."
Polycentricity
(1972) Ostrom, Vincent
"Application of the concept of polycentricity to the organization of government in metropolitan areas is examined. A polycentric order is defined as one where many elements are capable of making mutual adjustments for ordering relationships with one another within a general system of rules where each element acts with independence of other elements. Spontaneity, in the sense that individuals will be led to organize elements in a polycentric order, initiate self-enforcing arrangements and alter basic rules, is explored as an attribute of a polycentric order. "Reliance upon polycentricity in the organization of various decision-making arenas is examined in relation to markets, judicial decision making, constitutional rule, selection of political leadership and formation of political coalitions and in the operation of a public service economy. The existence of polycentricty in each of these decision making arenas suggests that the governance of metropolitan areas can occur in a polycentric political system so long as no single set of decision makers is able to gain dominance over all decision-making structures. Polycentricity is not confined to market structures but can apply to the organization of diverse political processes and by implication can apply to the political process as a whole. A polycentric political system will be one where each actor participated in a series of simultaneous games and where each act has the potential for being a move in simultaneous games. "Implications of a theory of polycentric organization for research in the governance of metropolitan areas are considered in relation to problems of language and differences of approach as reflected in the use of different units of analysis. Advantage can be taken of these differences so long as contradictory hypotheses can be derived from different theoretical formulations and be used as political experiments if careful attention is given to difference in diagnostic assessments and to differences in the predictive inferences associated with different proposals for policy change. It is this circumstance that provides a challenging opportunity for the generation of empirical research on metropolitan governance being undertaken in the 1970s. We may be on the threshold where political science becomes a cumulative intellectual discipline grounded in analytical theory and when empirical research can be used to mobilize evidence for rejecting some of the propositions which now pass for political science. Theory can be improved only when erroneous conceptions can be abandoned and when weak conceptions can be replaced by stronger conceptions."
Voluntary Group Response to Types of Collective Goods
(1978) Kiser, Larry L.
"Collective goods have been defined into three primary types distinguished by the attributes of nonsubtractibility, infeasibility of exclusion, and combination of both nonsubtractibility and nonexclusion. But these distinctions are often blurred in analysis involving collective goods. Mancur Olson's theory of groups and collective goods is an example, with the result that Olson claims unwarranted generality for his theory of small groups. The following develops the implications for voluntary provision of collective goods by focusing on the distinctions among the different types of collective goods."
Communes: The Logic of the Commons and Institutional Design
(1976) Bullock, Kari; Baden, John
"Among the sources of tension in American society is a substantial ambivalence toward competition. American children, like those in most other modernized societies are given a dual behavioral standard. For most social interactions, competition is an accepted and even a favored mode of behavior. In the family, however, unselfish and altruistic behavior is upheld as the ideal. Thus, the child is expected to learn to adjust his behavior to differing situations. Careful discrimination, then, became very important in determining appropriate action in any given situation. "There is no society that is perfectly successful in its acculturation of its children. Further, no individual is capable of perfect discrimination. He cannot apply one standard with perfection outside the family context, and concurrently apply another within. These weaknesses invariably create problems and tensions."
Institutional Analysis and Design
(1972) Ostrom, Vincent; Hennessey, Timothy
Note to the Reader: "This is a preliminary and incomplete draft of a manuscript that attempts to provide theoretical foundations for institutional analysis and design. We conceive of institutions to be nothing more nor less than decision-making arrangements. Institutional analysis is concerned with the effect of different decision-making arrangements upon human conduct and upon the well-being of the individuals who are involved. Institutional design is concerned with the choice of decision-making arrangements that will provide the means that are appropriate to the realization [of] specifiable objectives, consequences or ends in view. Any practical man of action who is concerned with organizing the efforts of many individuals in a joint enterprise is necessarily involved in problems of institutional analysis and design..."
Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches Vol. 1
(Dr. Ambedkar Foundation Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Govt. of India, 1979) Ambedkar, Bhimrao; Ambedkar, Bhimrao
"In Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, we have not only a crusader against the caste system, a valiant fighter for the cause of the downtrodden in India but also an elder statesman and national leader whose contribution in the form of the Constitution of India will be cherished forever by posterity. In fact his fight for human rights and as an emancipator of all those enslaved in the world gave him international recognition as a liberator of humanity from injustice, social and economic. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru paid a glowing tribute to Dr. Ambedkar while moving a condolence resolution in the Parliament as follows: 'Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar was a symbol of revolt against all oppressive features of the Hindu Society.' There is, therefore, a vital need to preserve the thoughts of this great son of India as expressed by him in his writings and speeches. While some efforts are being made in that direction by some institutions and research scholars, there is an urgent need to bring together all the material available and publish it in a series of volumes.
Urban Bads and the Structure of Institutional Arrangements
(1979) Sproule-Jones, Mark
"This paper will attempt to answer these broad questions. It does so by first outlining what may be called 'the theory of public bads.' Such a theory is necessary to explain the relationships between institutional arrangements and policy initiatives in the context of an urban and interdependent society. And this kind of explanatory knowledge is necessary for an evaluation of past institutional changes and future institutional possibilities. "Part II of the paper contains the theory and an illustrative case study of its empirical warrantability. Part III of the paper argues that the thrust of most changes in institutional arrangements over the last decade may have exacerbated rather than ameliorated the human condition in urban society. This argument is congruent with the theoretical section. It also presents a key institutional reform which could set the agenda for responsive and effective governance of urban society in the immediate future."
Public Economy Organization and Service Delivery
(1977) Ostrom, Elinor; Ostrom, Vincent
"Decision makers in the Detroit area are faced with the consideration of changing the organization of governmental units as one means of increasing both the efficiency and equity of urban services delivery. However, a key question is whether a decrease (or an increase) in governmental fragmentation will affect financial capability to deliver equitable and efficient urban services. "The Question cannot be answered without a well-developed and empirically based theory of institutional analysis and design. For years, conventional theories have been based on untested hypothesis about the relationship between the size and fragmentation of local governmental units on the one hand, the efficient and equitable delivery of urban services on the other. This has been challenged in the past twenty years by a growing number of economists and political scientists who have made considerable advances both theoretically and empirically. Their work has not yet produced a completed, accepted, and empirically validated theory of institutional analysis and design. The basic elements have, however, been worked out, and considerable empirical investigation supports hypothesis derived form this theoretical tradition. In this paper we will first provide a basic overview of this developing theory of institutional analysis. Any theory has its own language, and to understand it, one must first understand the basic terms. Thus, we shall first define and discuss some elemental concepts that are essential for understanding the approach. Then we will examine some opportunities and problems of complex structures, and lastly, examine some implication of this approach for the Southeastern Michigan area."
Population, Ethnicity, and Public Goods: The Logic of Interest Group Strategy
(1976) Baden, John
From Introduction: "Population control Is essentially a problem of choice. Societies face the necessity of choosing their level of population; we note that not to choose Is In Itself a choice. "There has been controversy, particularly between Paul Ehrlich and Barry Commoner, centered around the methods to be employed in any attempt at population control. There are those who baulk at any suggestions that lead to Institutionalized coercion methods as a threatening form of political repression. Barry Commoner, in his book The Closing Circle (Knopf, 1971), has advanced the argument that if a substantial majority of the members of a society were to voluntarily accept a program for birth control, then coercion would be rendered unnecessary. However, there seems to be a flaw In this position. The error became apparent when Garret Hardin demonstrated that leaders of subgroups within a society have a vested interest to admonish their followers to outbreed other subgroups. Admonitions of this nature possess the potentiality for undermining voluntary cooperation in birth control, if loyalties to the subgroup can be so directed. This brings us to the application of theories of population dynamics to issues of human population policy."

Filters

Settings

Sort By

Results per page

Search Results