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Ostrom's Challenge to Commons Thinking
- Elinor Ostrom, a political scientist, challenged prevailing economic ideas about commons management.
- She argued communities can sustainably manage common resources without government or privatization.
Tragedy of the Commons Explained
- The tragedy of the commons describes how individuals overuse shared resources out of self-interest.
- Hardin proposed either privatization or government control as solutions, favoring top-down regulation.
Ostrom's Critique of Top-Down Control
- Ostrom saw the tragedy of commons as a simplistic view and believed in human altruism and cooperation.
- She argued government lacks the capacity for effective top-down control over large common resources.