Sustaining the Commons

Reviewed by Robert Hardy, Assistant Professor, Sweet Briar College on 1/22/20

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The text appropriately and thoroughly covers social issues, particularly in relation to the commons. Case studies thoroughly introduce the issue at hand, as well as explore the insights offered. The text covers any issue relating to sustainability that I believe would be relevant for my students or a course of this nature. However, I do not see an index or glossary - but the table of contents is very clearly laid out.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The text appropriately brings in scholarly voices outside of Ostrom. This gives an accurate, well-rounded presentation of current knowledge on the subject.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Content is up-to-date, and the case studies given have relevance for issues today. In addition, the framework of the systems approach is widely applicable to future issues that may arise. I imagine that additional case studies of more recent issues could be easily implemented in future editions.

Clarity rating: 5

Very clearly written, jargon and definitional terms are clearly identified in bold, and many definitions are presented in inset boxes next to the main text.

Consistency rating: 5

The text consistently engages with the Ostrom school of thought. Terms are used correctly throughout, and the framework is presented and explained clearly.

Modularity rating: 5

As you can see from the book's table of contents, chapters and topics are broken into easily digestible sections, with many subheadings to guide reading.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The text clearly builds upon itself, with a clear on-ramp for students of definitions and framework, followed by applications and case studies, and then finally contextualizing the work in light of the insights offered by the case studies. At this point, the text also brings in system science to take the key insights of IAD into new and larger problems.

Interface rating: 5

No complaints, clearly laid out.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

None observed.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

A key to the IAD approach to common-pool resources is recognizing the value of local knowledge and solutions to problems, rather than defaulting to a top-down, outsider perspective. The case studies presented are drawn from diverse backgrounds around the world, and are sensitive to the viewpoints of the original users of these resources.

Reviewed by Chelsie Romulo, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies, University of Northern Colorado on 12/14/19

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

This text presents the research established by Elinor Ostrom on collaborative governance of natural resources with a focus on institutions, rules, and norms from a systems perspective. It serves as a good introduction into the concepts with a very thorough review of the theoretical background. Only one module is called theoretical background, but the other modules are also very theory heavy (especially human behavior and game theory), and it's very nice to see all of this information located in one text - traditionally these concepts would be found across policy, governance, and economics papers or textbooks. This book provides an excellent introduction into systems thinking for natural resource management and provides a learner with important vocabulary and tools for assessing institutions and actions involved. This is also a very important contribution to resource management curricula because other texts on the subject, such as Ostrom's Governing the Commons, were not written or designed for an introductory undergraduate course.

While thorough in terms of an introduction to governance in particular, the text will need to be supplemented for both ecological concept topics and applicable or assessment of natural resource management with these principles. The chapter index is very useful, especially in the pdf version because it is interactive, but a glossary would improve comprehensiveness and accessibility.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

One important aspect of this work is that it presents not only work by Ostrom and her colleagues and cohort, but other scholars on the subject, giving a more comprehensive and accurate presentation of our knowledge on the subject. This integration of other scholarship puts this text above others currently available on the subject, which had necessitated the use of quite a few other articles as supplemental readings for class.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

This text is very pertinent to current natural resource management issues, especially since one of the two case studies sections focuses on water and water infrastructure. The text contains modern examples that are unlikely to become irrelevant in the future (such as dams, domesticated animals, forests, etc) and critical modern concepts in our changing world, such as resilience and polycentric governance. There are many programs moving to a systems thinking framework (per recent research by National Council for Science and the Environment) and there are not as many texts available for environmental topics, so this text is a very important contribution to current, relevant topics.

Clarity rating: 4

The book is written in a very accessible grammar and is also available in Spanish, which I noted for our ESL students in class. I think as our LatinX population grows at the university level in the USA this will especially be important for accessibility for students. The book uses very accessible In some cases the book can get jargony (for example, in a section called "A Typology of Goods" the text does not explain typology") and while it does a good job of explaining and describing terms generally, there may be some supplemental instruction needed for students.

Consistency rating: 5

Terms used consistantly throughout. Only recommendation is to have students practice using the terms and concepts with lots of low stakes assignments and check-in (perhaps muddiest point activity?) because there are many terms that most students have not encountered in this way previously and with how the information builds upon itself, a misconception early on can really through off a student. One improvement could be the addition of lines such as "In chapter X we described TERM, which is ____" as reminders to students. I may assign them the task of creating and maintaining a word bank that I can check to make sure they understand the terms and concepts.

Modularity rating: 5

The textbook lends itself well to teaching modules both in the content and organization within chapters. The book is set up as 5 modules, though I did not follow these for the course that I teach because some content is covered in other courses on governance and economics. I especially appreciate the preparation in chapters 2 and 3 for terms and concepts the use of case studies in the second module to practice the use of those terms and concepts. It is very easy to divide the book into modules or weekly readings, and I used weekly reading quizzes that the students have said were good for motivating and focusing their engagement every week.

At the end of each chapter is also a "critical reflection" summary and "make yourself think" questions. The questions are not very good for deep, critical thinking (tend to be descriptive), but are a good starting point for students to prepare for more in dept reflections or in-class discussion.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The text has good overall organization, but I think that an earlier introduction to the design principles may help students situate the information in context. The first chapter presenting the theoretical background is a good start to why this is an important aspect of governance to study, but chapters 2-3 are definition and concept heavy. The design principles don't appear until Chapter 7 and I think the next time I teach this course I might move that chapter earlier or perhaps assign an additional reading to cover this concept of design principles before launching into the theory behind institutions and case studies.

Interface rating: 5

The interface is very nice and simple with good use of figures, images, and I like the key concepts (read: learning outcomes) that precede each chapter.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No grammatical errors to note.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

Part of the essence of common pool resources is honoring the established common management of natural resources by indigenous and local peoples around the world. The text presents important cultural context, such as the disenfranchisement of indigenous people by colonial protected area designation, and also presents examples and case studies drawn from diverse backgrounds around the world.

Comments

I used this book for the first time this past semester, Fall 2019. It worked very well for an introductory, sophomore level course on conservation and resource management. We have separate courses on governance, economics, and conservation biology that are very complimentary and I was looking for something focused on common pool resources using a systems thinking framework. I used this in conjunction with some chapters from Conservation Biology for All by Sodhi and Ehrlich (also open source), which worked well to provide some background for those students with less exposure to ecological principles.

Reviewed by Kayla Yurco, Visiting Assistant Professor, James Madison University on 3/27/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The text begins with Garrett Hardin’s notion of the tragedy of the commons to situate Elinor Ostrom’s scholarly contributions and ends with discussions about some of the broadest challenges in the world today (global climate change, large scale governance, technology, and others). In between, the authors covers major frameworks developed by Ostrom and her colleagues (e.g., institutional analysis); major concepts (e.g., rules and norms); game theory relevant to the commons (e.g., prisoner’s dilemma); case studies on water, pasture, and forest governance; lab- and field-based experiments on social dilemmas; and applications for systems thinking, among other topics. These topics span the wide range of the subject appropriately. There is unfortunately no index or glossary, but the Table of Contents is detailed and organization of the text clear. Important terms are bold-faced throughout the text and relatively easy to find.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The authors effectively discuss shifts in scholarship about the commons throughout history in an accurate, unbiased manner. The text celebrates the life and work of Ostrom while integrating other perspectives, providing a holistic and accurate overview of scholarship on shared resource governance from political science, economics, and related cognate fields.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The focus of the text is on providing frameworks and concepts that can be applied to various types of commons and to diverse norms and rules involved in shared resource governance. This emphasis on frameworks as tools for application and analysis makes the text relevant for the foreseeable future. As Ostrom and her colleagues demonstrated, governance of shared resources is a longstanding concept worthy of investigation. The text highlights historical case studies originally discussed by Ostrom and others, and it also presents more recent examples from around the world. Later chapters on systems thinking help the reader project forward toward future resource governance challenges and opportunities, setting up the likelihood for longevity of this text and its lessons.

Clarity rating: 5

While still managing to maintain the structure of a textbook (with key terms in bold, clear chapter objectives, etc.), the text reads as a thoughtful narrative. The authors write encouragingly, guiding students to come to conclusions about social, political, and economic issues around them while still providing insights into theory and historical scholarship to help students situate those conclusions. Terms are clearly defined and consistently explained throughout the text.

Consistency rating: 5

The text is internally consistent. The authors regularly clarify the definitions of important concepts such as institutions, the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework, norms, rules, collective action, and the commons/common-pool resources, while also consistently explaining how they relate to one another.

Modularity rating: 4

Each chapter beings with “Key concepts” that function effectively as study objectives. Chapters end with a short “Critical reflections” section that does more than reiterate bold-faced terms; instead, it situates them within the context provided in the chapter and with respect to one another. There is also a “Make yourself think” section in each chapter that provides helpful writing/journaling opportunities.

While many sub-sections are lengthy, particularly in the first several chapters, the prose is consistently conversational and accessible. The tone is informative without being overly formal and the text is full of examples, narratives, and first-person interjections from the authors, making the reading experience a positive one.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The book moves in a logical order, from a theoretical background (part one) to case studies (part two) to concepts rooted in human behavior (part three) to rules and game theory (part four) to systems thinking (part five). This also aligns relatively well with the chronology of concepts discussed in the book, with the early portions of the text devoted to Ostrom and the work of her colleagues and with later portions of the text devoted to applying their insights toward modern resource governance challenges.

Interface rating: 4

There are no issues with the book’s interface. The text appears in one column and there are no problems with navigation or other display features. The book is mostly text-based, with relatively few images or figures. When images are present, they are generally small and many are at a low resolution. This does not, however, distract from their meaning or relevance.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

There are no distracting errors in the text.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

True to the spirit of Ostrom and her colleagues’ work on the commons and institutions, the text relies on diverse case studies from around the world. Examples illustrate challenges of public goods and common-pool resources from a variety of communities. The authors juxtapose new examples from society today alongside historical case studies used by Ostrom and others in earlier examinations of the commons. This provides a holistic view of the utility of the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework for studying shared resources.

Comments

The motivation for Sustaining the Commons was to provide the major insights, theories, and applications of Elinor Ostrom and her colleagues to an undergraduate audience. The authors draw from their history of teaching Ostrom’s classic 1990 text Governing the Commons as well as their experience working alongside her in research and teaching capacities to present a text that aligns with the spirit and ethos of her work while remaining accessible to undergraduate students. The text succeeds in its efforts to situate scholarship on the commons within broader economic and resource management questions, and it also provides excellent tools for approaching specific case studies of resource governance. This text is what I have been waiting for in order to teach environmental governance – I look forward to using it in my classroom!