The governance of natural resources used by many individuals in common is an issue of
increasing concern to policy analysts. Both state control and privatization of resources have
been advocated but neither the state nor the market have been uniformly successful in solving
common pool resource problems. After critiquing the foundations of policy analysis as applied
to natural resources Elinor Ostrom here provides a unique body of empirical data to explore
conditions under which common pool resource problems have been satisfactorily or
unsatisfactorily solved. Dr Ostrom uses institutional analysis to explore different ways - both
successful and unsuccessful - of governing the commons. In contrast to the proposition of the
'tragedy of the commons' argument common pool problems sometimes are solved by voluntary
organizations rather than by a coercive state. Among the cases considered are communal tenure
in meadows and forests irrigation communities and other water rights and fisheries.
