Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-995ml Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T08:40:52.244Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Covenants with and without a Sword: Self-Governance Is Possible

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Elinor Ostrom
Affiliation:
Indiana University, Bloomington
James Walker
Affiliation:
Indiana University, Bloomington
Roy Gardner
Affiliation:
Indiana University, Bloomington

Abstract

Contemporary political theory often assumes that individuals cannot make credible commitments where substantial temptations exist to break them unless such commitments are enforced by an external agent. One such situation may occur in relation to common pool resources, which are natural or man-made resources whose yield is subtractable and whose exclusion is nontrivial (but not necessarily impossible). Examples include fisheries, forests, grazing ranges, irrigation systems, and groundwater basins. Empirical evidence, however, suggests that appropriators in common pool resources develop credible commitments in many cases without relying on external authorities. We present findings from a series of experiments exploring (1) covenants alone (both one-shot and repeated communication opportunities); (2) swords alone (repeated opportunities to sanction each other); and (3) covenants combined with an internal sword (one-shot communication followed by repeated opportunities to sanction each other).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1992 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Berkes, Fikret, ed. 1989. Common Property Resources, Ecology, and Community-based Sustainable Development. London: Belhaven.Google Scholar
Bianco, William T., and Bates, Robert H.. 1990. “Cooperation by Design: Leadership, Structure, and Collective Dilemmas.” American Political Science Review 84:133–47.10.2307/1963633Google Scholar
Bornstein, Gary, and Rapoport, Amnon. 1988. “Intergroup Competition for the Provision of Step-level Public Goods: Effects of Preplay Communication.” European Journal of Social Psychology 18:125–42.10.1002/ejsp.2420180205Google Scholar
Bornstein, Gary, Rapoport, Amnon, Kerpel, Lucia, and Katz, Tani. 1989. “Within- and Between-Group Communication in Intergroup Competition for Public Goods.” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 25:422–36.10.1016/0022-1031(89)90031-0Google Scholar
Braver, Sanford L., and Wilson, L. A.. 1984. “A Laboratory Study of Social Contracts as a Solution to Public Goods Problems: Surviving on the Lifeboat.” Presented at a meeting of the Western Social Science Association, San Diego.Google Scholar
Braver, Sanford L., and Wilson, L. A.. 1986. “Choices in Social Dilemmas: Effects of Communication within Subgroups.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 30(1):5162.10.1177/0022002786030001004Google Scholar
Caldwell, Michael D. 1976. “Communication and Sex Effects in a Five-Person Prisoners' Dilemma Game.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 33(3):273–80.10.1037/0022-3514.33.3.273Google Scholar
Campbell, R. 1985. “Background for the Uninitiated.” In Paradoxes of Rationality and Cooperation, ed. Campbell, R. and Sowden, L.. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.Google Scholar
Clark, Colin W. 1980. “Restricted Access to Common-Property Fishery Resources: A Game-theoretic Analysis.” In Dynamic Optimization and Mathematical Economics, ed Liu, Pan-Tai. New York: Plenum.Google Scholar
Comes, Richard, and Sandler, Todd. 1986. The Theory of Externalities, Public Goods, and Club Goods. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Dawes, Robyn M. 1975. “Formal Models of Dilemmas in Social Decision Making.” In Human Judgement and Decision Processes, ed. Kaplan, Martin F. and Schwartz, Steven. New York: Academic.Google Scholar
Dawes, Robyn M. 1980. “Social Dilemmas.” Annual Review of Psychology 31:169–93.10.1146/annurev.ps.31.020180.001125Google Scholar
Dawes, Robyn M., McTavish, Jeanne, and Shaklee, Harriet. 1977. “Behavior, Communication, and Assumptions about Other People's Behavior in a Commons Dilemma Situation.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 35(1): 111.10.1037/0022-3514.35.1.1Google Scholar
Dawes, Robyn M., Orbell, John M., and van de Kragt, Alphons J. C.. 1984. “Normative Constraint and Incentive Compatible Design.” University of Oregon, Eugene. Typescript.Google Scholar
Dawes, Robyn M., van de Kragt, Alphons J. C., and Orbell, John M.. 1988. “Not Me or Thee but WE: The Importance of Group Identity in Eliciting Cooperation in Dilemma Situations—Experimental Manipulations.” Acta Psychologica 68: 8397.10.1016/0001-6918(88)90047-9Google Scholar
Edney, Julian J, and Harper, Christopher S.. 1978. “The Commons Dilemma: A Review of Contributions from Psychology.” Environmental Management 2(6): 491507.10.1007/BF01866708Google Scholar
Gardner, Roy, Ostrom, Elinor, and Walker, James. 1990. “The Nature of Common-Pool Resource Problems.” Rationality and Society 2:335–58.10.1177/1043463190002003005Google Scholar
Hardin, Russell. 1971. “Collective Action as an Agreeable N-Prisoner's Dilemma.” Behavioral Science 16(5): 472–81.10.1002/bs.3830160507Google Scholar
Hardin, Russell. 1982. Collective Action. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.10.56021/9780801828188Google Scholar
Harsanyi, John C., and Selten, Reinhard. 1988. A General Theory of Equilibrium Selection in Games. Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press.Google Scholar
Hechter, Michael. 1987. Principles of Group Solidarity. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Hobbes, Thomas. 1960. Leviathan. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
Isaac, R. Mark, and Walker, James M.. 1988. “Communication and Free-riding Behavior: The Voluntary Contribution Mechanism.” Economic Inquiry 24(4): 585608.10.1111/j.1465-7295.1988.tb01519.xGoogle Scholar
Isaac, R. Mark, and Walker, James M.. 1991. “Costly Communication: An Experiment in a Nested Public Goods Problem.” In Laboratory Research in Political Economy, ed. Palfrey, Thomas R.. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Jankowski, Richard. 1990. “Punishment in Iterated Chicken and Prisoner's Dilemma Games.” Rationality and Society 2(4): 449–70.10.1177/1043463190002004004Google Scholar
Jerdee, Thomas H., and Rosen, Benson. 1974. “Effects of Opportunity to Communicate and Visibility of Individual Decisions on Behavior in the Common Interest.” Journal of Applied Psychology 59(6): 712–16.10.1037/h0037450Google Scholar
Kramer, R. M., and Brewer, Marilyn M.. 1986. “Social Group Identity and the Emergence of Cooperation in Resource Conservation Dilemmas.” In Experimental Social Dilemmas, ed. Wilke, Henk A., Messick, David M., and Rutte, Christel G.. Frankfurt: Lang.Google Scholar
Kreps, David M. 1990. “Corporate Culture and Economic Theory.” In Perspectives on Positive Political Economy, ed. Alt, James E. and Shepsle, Kenneth A.. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kreps, David M., Milgrom, Paul, Roberts, John, and Wilson, Robert. 1982. “Rational Cooperation in the Finitely Repeated Prisoners' Dilemma.” Journal of Economic Theory 27:245–52.10.1016/0022-0531(82)90029-1Google Scholar
Ledyard, John O. 1991. “Is There a Problem with Public Good Provision?California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. Mimeo.Google Scholar
McLean, Iain. 1981. “The Social Contract in Leviathan and the Prisoner's Dilemma Supergame.” Political Studies 29(3): 339–51.10.1111/j.1467-9248.1981.tb00500.xGoogle Scholar
Moore, Clement Henry. 1987. “Prisoners' Financial Dilemmas: A Consociational Future for Lebanon?American Political Science Review 81:201–18.10.2307/1960785Google Scholar
Nash, John F. 1950. “The Bargaining Problem.” Econometrica 18:155–62.10.2307/1907266Google Scholar
Nash, John F. 1951. “Non-cooperative Games.” Annals of Mathematics 54:286–95.10.2307/1969529Google Scholar
National Research Council. 1986. Proceedings of the Conference on Common Property Resource Management. Washington: National Academy Press.Google Scholar
Negri, D. H. 1989. “The Common Property Aquifer as a Differential Game.” Water Resources Research 25:915.10.1029/WR025i001p00009Google Scholar
Ophuls, W. 1973. “Leviathan or Oblivion.” In Toward a Steady State Economy, ed. Daly, H. E.. San Francisco: Freeman.Google Scholar
Orbell, John M., Dawes, Robyn M., and van de Kragt, Alphons J. C.. 1990. “The Limits of Multilateral Promising.” Ethics 100(4): 616–27.10.1086/293213Google Scholar
Orbell, John M., van de Kragt, Alphons J. C., and Dawes, Robyn M.. 1988. “Explaining Discussion-induced Cooperation.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 54(5): 811–19.10.1037/0022-3514.54.5.811Google Scholar
Orbell, John M., van de Kragt, Alphons J. C., and Dawes, Robyn M.. 1991. “Covenants without the Sword: The Role of Promising in Social Dilemma Circumstances.” In Social Norms and Economic Institutions, ed. Koford, Ken. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Ostrom, Elinor. 1990. Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action. New York: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511807763Google Scholar
Ostrom, Elinor, Gardner, Roy, and Walker, James. N.d. Rules and Games: Institutions and Common-Pool Resources. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Ostrom, Elinor, and Walker, James. 1991. “Communication in a Commons: Cooperation without External Enforcement.” In Laboratory Research in Political Economy, ed. Palfrey, Thomas R.. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Ostrom, Vincent. 1987. The Political Theory of a Compound Republic: Designing the American Experiment. 2d rev. ed. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar
Ostrom, Vincent. 1989. The Intellectual Crisis in American Public Administration. 2d ed. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.Google Scholar
Ostrom, Vincent. 1991. The Meaning of American Federalism: Constituting a Self-governing Society. San Francisco: Institute for Contemporary Studies Press.Google Scholar
Pinkerton, Evelyn, ed. 1989. Co-operative Management of Local Fisheries: New Directions for Improved Management and Community Development. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.Google Scholar
Plott, Charles R. 1983. “Externalities and Corrective Policies in Experimental Markets.” Economic Journal 93:106–27.10.2307/2232168Google Scholar
Samuelson, Charles D., Messick, David M., Wilke, Henk A. M., and Rutte, Christel G.. 1986. “Individual Restraint and Structural Change as Solutions to Social Dilemmas.” In Experimental Social Dilemmas, ed. Wilke, Henk A. M., Messick, David M., and Rutte, Christel G.. Frankfurt: Lang.Google Scholar
Sell, Jane, and Wilson, Rick. 1991. “Levels of Information and Contributions to Public Goods.” Social Forces 70(1): 107–24.10.2307/2580064Google Scholar
Selten, Reinhard. 1971. “A Simple Model of Imperfect Competition Where Four Are Few and Six Are Many.” International Journal of Game Theory 2:141201.10.1007/BF01737566Google Scholar
Selten, Reinhard, Mitzkewitz, Michael, and Uhlich, Gerald R.. 1988. “Duopoly Strategies Programmed by Experienced Players.” University of Bonn, Discussion Paper B–172. Special Research Project 303.Google Scholar
Taylor, Michael. 1987. The Possibility of Cooperation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
van de Kragt, Alphons J. C., et al. 1983. “The Minimal Contributing Set as a Solution to Public Goods Problems.” American Political Science Review 77:112–22.10.2307/1956014Google Scholar
van de Kragt, Alphons J. C., et al. 1986. “Doing Well and Doing Good as Ways of Resolving Social Dilemmas.” In Experimental Social Dilemmas, ed. Wilke, Henk A. M., Messick, David M., and Rutte, Christel G.. Frankfurt: Lang.Google Scholar
Wade, Robert. 1988. Village Republics: Economic Conditions for Collective Action in South India. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Walker, James, Gardner, Roy, and Ostrom, Elinor. 1990. “Rent Dissipation in a Limited-Access Common-Pool Resource: Experimental Evidence.” Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 19:203–11.10.1016/0095-0696(90)90069-BGoogle Scholar
Walker, James, Gardner, Roy, and Ostrom, Elinor. 1991. “Rent Dissipation and Balanced Deviation Disequilibrium in Common Pool Resources: Experimental Evidence.” In Game Equilibrium Models II, ed. Selten, Reinhard. Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar
Williamson, Oliver E. 1975. Markets and Hierarchies: Analysis and Antitrust Implications. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Williamson, Oliver E. 1985. The Economic Institutions of Capitalism: Firms, Markets, Relational Contracting. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Yamagishi, Toshio. 1986. “The Provision of a Sanctioning System as a Public Good.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 51(1): 110–16.10.1037/0022-3514.51.1.110Google Scholar
Yamagishi, Toshio. 1988. “Seriousness of Social Dilemmas and the Provision of a Sanctioning System.” Social Psychology Quarterly 51(1): 3242.10.2307/2786982Google Scholar