| Abstract: | Common property has been theoretically linked to environmental degradation through the metaphor of  the tragedy of the commons, which discounts local solutions to commons dilemmas and typically posits the need for strong states or privatization. Though neither solution is theoretically or empirically adequate—because of the nature of states and nature in the real world—local arrangements for averting the tragedy suffer certain lacunaeas well, including stringent boundary conditions and overlapping/overarching commons situations that necessitate larger scale cooperation than is possible in the face-to-face communities that are conducive to cooperation. Second-order or meta-commons issues expand the scope of inquiry necessarily beyond conservationto preservation.The Sundarbans illustrates the contradictory implications of the Leviathan solution to comons dilemmas, as well as the centrality of alternative perceptual framings of natural systems.Ron Herring teaches political science at Northwestern University. His concern with environmental issues emerges from work on land systems, agriculture, and land reform in South Asia, some of which has appeared asLand to the Tiller (Yale, 1983). He is currently organizing work on the environment through the SSRC. |
