Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques

With the publication of The Logic of Collective Action in 1965, Mancur Olson challenged a cherished foundation of modern democratic thought that groups would tend to form and take collective action...

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Collective Action and the Evolution of Social Norms

In a seminal paper, Garrett Hardin argued in 1968 that users of a commons are caught in an inevitable process that leads to the destruction of the resources on which they depend. This article discusses new insights about such problems and the conditions most likely to favor sustainable uses of common-pool resources. Some of the most difficult challenges concern the management of large-scale resources that depend on international cooperation, such as fresh water in international basins or large marine ecosystems. Institutional diversity may be as important as biological diversity for our long-term survival.

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Revisiting the Commons: Local Lessons, Global Challenges

Capitals and Capabilities: A Framework for Analyzing Peasant Viability, Rural Livelihoods and Poverty

Contemporary research on the outcomes of diverse institutional arrangements for governing common-pool resources (CPRs ) and public goods at multiple scales builds on classical economic theory while developing new theory to explain phenomena that do not fit in a dichotomous world of “the market” and “the state.” Scholars are slowly shifting from positing simple systems to using more complex frameworks, theories, and models to understand the diversity of puzzles and problems facing humans interacting in contemporary societies. The humans we study have complex motivational structures and establish diverse private-for-profit, governmental, and com munity institutional arrangements that operate at multiple scales to generate productive and inno vative as well as destructive and perverse outcomes ( Douglass C. North 1990, 2005 ). In this article, I will describe the intellectual journey that I have taken the last half century from when I began graduate studies in the late 1950s. The early efforts to understand the poly centric water industry in California were formative for me. In addition to working with Vincent Ostrom and Charles M. Tiebout as they formulated the concept of polycentric systems for gov erning metropolitan areas, I studied the efforts of a large group of private and public water producers facing the problem of an overdrafted groundwater basin on the coast and watching saltwater intrusion threaten the possibility of long term use. Then, in the 1970s, I participated with colleagues in the study of polycentric police industries serving US metropolitan areas to find that the dominant theory underlying massive reform proposals was incorrect. Metropolitan areas served by a combination of large and small producers could achieve economies of scale in the production of some police services and avoid diseconomies of scale in the production of others. These early empirical studies led over time to the development of the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework. A common framework consistent with game theory enabled us to undertake a variety of empirical studies including a meta-analysis of a large number of existing case studies on common-pool resource systems around the world. Carefully designed experimental studies in the lab have enabled us to test precise combinations of structural vari ables to find that isolated, anonymous individuals overharvest from common-pool resources. Simply allowing communication, or “cheap talk,” enables participants to reduce overharvest ing and increase joint payoffs contrary to game theoretical predictions. Large studies of irrigation systems in Nepal and forests around the world challenge the presumption that governments always do a better job than users in organizing and protecting important resources.

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Beyond Markets and States: Polycentric Governance of Complex Economic Systems

Building rural resilience into the Lai Chi Wo SES has increased the economic opportunities of the village and strengthened the natural resource management, while safeguarding the cultural identity and natural environment of the area. Revitalising a rural area allows the continuation of a community’s cultural heritage and so must be done with sensitivity to the local context, balances must be struck between maintaining traditions and innovating. The experiences and lessons gained from the Lai Chi Wo Programme are being developed and applied to neighbouring villages and, potentially the wider region, demonstrating the utility of the approach for revitalising peri-urban areas. The Lai Chi Wo experience demonstrates that peri-urban areas contain some unique advantages, which can be leveraged to strengthen the peri-urban interface to the benefit of both rural and urban communities.

Building Resilient Rural Communities: A Summary of the Case Study and Prospects Beyond Lai Chi Wo and Hong Kong

The sustainable management of an area necessitates understanding the complex interactions between human and social ecological systems. This perspective emphasises the relationship between humans and their environment and how communities can be determinative in sustaining healthy ecosystems. This supports that community involvement and participatory development are important pillars in rural revitalisation. Equally, this understanding draws attention to the impacts to the social-ecological system when conditions change, and the risks that such changes can hold for the delicate balance. Rural resilience, developed through collaborative governance processes, can be built into a social-ecological system to aid the system in dealing with unexpected shocks as well as to better adapt to the changing world. As such, the incorporation of rural resilience can contribute to building a sustainable rural community at the peri-urban interface.

Wai Fung Lam

Papers

Building Resilient Rural Communities: A Summary of the Case Study and Prospects Beyond Lai Chi Wo and Hong Kong

Rural Revitalisation: Building Rural Resilience Through Collaborative Governance