The commons and development: unanswered sociological questions

Do processes of political and economic development hinder or promote the creation of common property institutions (CPIs) to govern common pool resources? Despite the seeming importance of this question, development sociologists have never really tried to answer it. This paper explores the intersection of development processes, the commons, and common property institutions and concludes that development has countervailing influences that both promote and impede the formation of CPIs. Because social capital enables collective action, the accumulation of social capital through development provides a basis for an expansion in the numbers of CPIs in a society. At the same time market expansion through development led globalization and labor migration weaken CPIs. Business cycles have similar influences. Economic booms weaken CPIs while subsequent economic downturns increase the likelihood that resource users will form CPIs.