Title: Solving Collective Action Problems | GEOG 30N: Environment and Society in a Changing World
Headings: Solving Collective Action Problems
Solving Collective Action Problems
Solving Collective Action Problems
Reading Assignment: "Tragedy of the Commons, Revisited"
Reading Assignment: The Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative
Social Norms
Consider This: Cycling as a Social Norm in Copenhagen
Copenhagen’s Climate-Friendly, Bike-Friendly Streets
from STREETFILMS

Content: A government can declare it against the law to act selfishly and require individuals to cooperate. Private ownership: If someone owns a resource, then he or she can restrict access to it. Furthermore, it will be in his or her interest to prevent the resource from collapsing. Community self-organization: Groups of individuals can work together to foster cooperation. Historically, academic research on collective action problems focused on government regulation and private ownership. Researchers often assumed that without the formalized mechanisms of government and private property, individuals could not come together to cooperate. As we noted in the last section, Garrett Hardin - author of The Tragedy of the Commons - was advocating for privatization (he was also, incidentally, a neomalthusian). However, over recent years, research has shown that community self-organization can be successful – and often is.