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

Rapid social-economic development has posed serious challenges to irrigation management in Taiwan.  Drawing upon data collected through in-depth interviews with farmers and local irrigation officials and an appraisal survey, this study compares the processes of adaptation that have taken place in irrigation systems in four distinct ecological-institutional settings in the Chianan area of Taiwan.  We have found that different modes of institutional nesting have affected farmers’ choice of adaptation strategies and the way self-governance has played out in the adaptation process, and that different adaptation strategies have brought about different impacts on system robustness and the sustainability of self-governance.

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Institutional nesting and robustness of self-governance: the adaptation of irrigation systems in Taiwan

Summary
How does the structure of government-funded service networks affect the process of service innovation? We have conducted a comparative analysis of the structure and processes of collaborative innovation of 2 government-funded community-based elderly service networks in Shanghai. We have found that in consistent with the literature, a network that has a network administrative organization structure is better able to manage the process of service innovation in a way that balances the need to achieve government policy goals on the one hand and the imperative to facilitate bottom-up citizen participation on the other. Surprisingly, contrary to what prior studies have suggested, we have found that a network in which a lead organization plays a dominant role, despite its more centralized process of service innovation, is often able to deliver a variety of high-quality and low-cost services addressing citizens' needs. With the leadership provided by the network lead organization and its close affiliation with the street-office government, the network has been able to solicit government support. Such a hierarchical yet responsive state-society relation has emerged as a result of the coalescence of a corporatist state legacy and an increasing pressure for local governments to seek citizens' support in service delivery.

Network structure and collaborative innovation processes—A comparative analysis of two elderly service networks in Shanghai

Reforming Taiwan's irrigation associations: getting the nesting of institutions right.

Recognizing multiple water uses in intersectoral water transfers.

SUMMARY

In this article, we explore and discuss the implications and relevance of the concept of co-production to the design of performance measures. Such a co-production approach to performance management is grounded upon a conception of public management that emphasizes collective problem-solving involving not only government officials but also citizens. We argue successful application of such an approach requires that both officials and citizens be cognizant of their role as co-producers in the process of public service delivery. Whether such a cognitive basis exists in a particular context will affect the utility and viability of the co-production approach and is an important question that needs to be addressed empirically. To illustrate the importance of the cognitive basis for co-production, we have conducted an empirical analysis of data collected in a survey in three cities in China. Our analysis suggests that the officials and citizens in the sample generally do not recognize that public administration is a co-production process involving the efforts of both officials and citizens. Yet, our analysis identifies a number of leverage points for building the cognitive basis. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The cognitive foundation of a co‐production approach to performance measurement: how do officials and citizens understand government performance in china?

Wai Fung Lam

Papers

Institutional nesting and robustness of self-governance: the adaptation of irrigation systems in Taiwan

Network structure and collaborative innovation processes—A comparative analysis of two elderly service networks in Shanghai

Reforming Taiwan's irrigation associations: getting the nesting of institutions right.

Recognizing multiple water uses in intersectoral water transfers.

The cognitive foundation of a co‐production approach to performance measurement: how do officials and citizens understand government performance in china?