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Evolutionary Perspectives on the Commons: A Model of Commonisation and Decommonisation

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  • Prateep Kumar Nayak

    (School of Environment, Enterprise and Development, Faculty of Environment, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada)

  • Fikret Berkes

    (Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada)

Abstract

Commons (or common-pool resources) are inherently dynamic. Factors that appear to contribute to the evolution of a stable commons regime at one time and place may undergo change that results in the collapse of the commons at another. The factors involved can be very diverse. Economic, social, environmental and political conditions and various drivers may lead to commonisation, a process through which a resource is converted into a joint-use regime under commons institutions and collective action. Conversely, they may lead to decommonisation, a process through which a commons loses these essential characteristics. Evolution through commonisation may be manifested as adaptation or fine-tuning over time. They may instead result in the replacement of one kind of property rights regime by another, as in the enclosure movement in English history that resulted in the conversion of sheep grazing commons into privatized agricultural land. These processes of change can be viewed from an evolutionary perspective using the concepts of commonisation and decommonisation, and theorized as a two-way process over time, with implications for the sustainability of joint resources from local to global.

Suggested Citation

  • Prateep Kumar Nayak & Fikret Berkes, 2022. "Evolutionary Perspectives on the Commons: A Model of Commonisation and Decommonisation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-15, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:7:p:4300-:d:787111
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kristof Van Assche & Gert Verschraegen & Vladislav Valentinov & Monica Gruezmacher, 2019. "The social, the ecological, and the adaptive. Von Bertalanffy's general systems theory and the adaptive governance of social‐ecological systems," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(3), pages 308-321, May.
    2. Fikret Berkes, 2017. "Environmental Governance for the Anthropocene? Social-Ecological Systems, Resilience, and Collaborative Learning," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-12, July.
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    2. Qiang Wang & Liying Yu & Yueling Yang, 2022. "From Fragmentation to Intensification: Land Reform in China’s “New Era”," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-17, September.
    3. Kristof Van Assche & Monica Gruezmacher & Raoul Beunen, 2022. "Why Governance Is Never Perfect: Co-Evolution in Environmental Policy and Governance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-7, August.
    4. Stella Sofia Kyvelou & Dimitrios G. Ierapetritis & Michalis Chiotinis, 2023. "The Future of Fisheries Co-Management in the Context of the Sustainable Blue Economy and the Green Deal: There Is No Green without Blue," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-24, May.

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