The Dilemma of the Commoners

Understanding the Use of Common-Pool Resources in Long-Term Perspective

Tine De Moor

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN:
  9781107022164
• eBook ISBN:
  9781316308530
• Topic: Economics
• Subtopic: Political Economy
• Index: Economics

One of the classic problems in social science is known as 'the dilemma of the commons', in which land, water, and other resources held jointly by social or economic segments tend to be depleted sooner and to a greater extent than privately held assets. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, many aspects of western European society changed fundamentally, including the abolition of common-property rights, which in itself was related to social and economic shifts in that same society. This book intends to put the debate on commons, commoners, and the disappearance of both throughout early modern and modern northwestern Europe in a new light, through new approaches and innovative methodologies. Tine De Moor aims to link the historical debate about the long-term evolution of commons to the present-day debates on common-pool resources, as well as touching upon various disciplines within the social sciences that work on commons issues.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title page
• Series page
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Contents
• Figures and Tables
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1 The emergence of commons and other forms of institutions for collective action in western Europe from the late Middle Ages onwards1
• 2 Common land and common rights in Flanders1
• 3 From rules to practice: case description, sources, and methodology
• 4 The choices of the commoners: understanding utility, efficiency, and equity on the commons through the behavior of commoners
• 5 Dealing with dilemmas: conclusions
• Epilogue: The revenge of history?: The return of homo cooperans in present„-day„ western European countries
• References
• Archival references
• Index