Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action

Appropriation refers to “the process of withdrawing resource units from a resource system” (30). Ostrom’s study focuses on how this process can be structured to ensure the sustainability of the resource system. She challenges prevailing assumptions about how to do so.

Appropriators are those that withdraw resource units from the system. It can refer to “herders, fishers, irrigators” (31), and others. Ostrom argues that appropriators have the ability to work together to ensure that a resource is not overused and depleted in the right conditions, which she details.

Collective-choice rules are those “used by appropriators, their officials, or external authorities in making policies—the operational rules—about how a CPR should be managed” (52). Ostrom argues that it is possible for appropriators to organize and change these rules. The key to doing so is to make the process of change incremental.