Research On Elinor Ostrom's Thought Of Self-Governance

For a long time,Western scholars have been deeply influenced by the traditional collective action theory.It is generally believed that individuals in collective action will find it difficult to get rid of the tragic outcome of public governance,and only by means of centralized government control or thorough privatization reform can we overcome the the opportunistic tendency of individuals in collective action.In view of the shortcomings of the above two types of solutions,Elinor Ostrom,a world-class political economist and professor of political science at Indiana University,who won the Nobel Prize in Economics(2009),has been conducting a half-century of research on public affairs in various countries and has achieved remarkable achievements in excellence.In summary,Ostrom with small-scale Common-Pool Resources as the main research object,focusing on how to promote or hinder the mechanism of cooperation between individuals,and then abandon the traditional path of government intervention and private property rights,and put forward a different approach to the "Third Way" of self-governance,breaking through the traditional theory of collective action.This study will Ostrom the relevant resource occupiers can use the independent organization to carry on the system proposition of independent governance,condense into the independent governance thought of the autonomous organization,and follow the research idea of "generating background—application field—constructing logic—analysis characteristic—value examination",aiming at the systematically and comprenensively analysis of the thought.Ostrom's thought of self-governance is not produced out of thin air,it is a knowledge system that has been formed through long-term thinking and continuous exploration on the basis of abundant nureients of the existing theory of public resource governance and collective action theory.It has a special historical situation and profound theoretical origin.Specifically,since the the mid 1960 s,the revival of neoclassical liberalism in the major western developed countries,as well as the resulting reshaping of state-society relations and the reflection on the legitimacy of rational bureaucracy,together constitute the epoch proposition of Ostrom?s thought generation.At the same time,the traditional group theory,the first generation of collective action theory and the deep elucidation of collective action and individual rational choice at the level of social psychology are the theoretical accumulation of Ostrom's thought.More importantly,the systematic discussion of individualism methodology,new institutionalism game rules,multi-person cooperative game structure and social governance order based on public choice theory,new institutional economics,cooperative game theory and multi-center governance theory is regarded as the academic origin of Ostrom's thought.A comprehensive review of Ostrom?s exploration of the idea of self-governance reveals that the earliest exploration of public governance was initiated by the study of water resources.On the basis of the analysis of Paul Samuelson,James Buchanan and others to subdivide the category of public goods,so as to focus their own research on small-scale public pond resources,involving forests,fisheries,irrigation and other renewable resources,focusing on the sustainable use of these resources and common governance issues,so as to form the independent governance of the object of operation and application of the field.Moreover,in the policy analysis of empirical research,Ostrom corrects the human nature hypothesis of rational economic man,understands the individual as the reasonable connection between complete rationality and finite rationality,and understands the system as the game rule from the perspective of new institutionalism.It can be said that Ostrom tried to develop a theory of collective action close to the reality,put forward the rational hypothesis of the research and the understanding of the system,thus constituting the presupposition of the thought of self-governance.In addition,Ostrom analyzed the three models in the process of traditional public resources analysis,and extracts many opportunistic problems faced by collective action,including the four defects of incentive mechanism and the second-order dilemma of system supply,which constituted the filed dilemma of collective action.Relevant analysis of traditional economic models emphasizes that only by introducing a series of nationalization or privatization property rights arrangements can tragedies be avoided as to how human beings can make sustainable use of public resources to ensure the long-term survival of resources rather than falling into a state of exhaustion.In this regard,the generation process of Ostrom?s thought of self-governance follows an evolutionary path from doubt to initiation,questioning the traditional policy solutions to the dilemma of collective action in the field of public resources,proving that there are institutional arrangements spontaneously formed by human society outside the government and the market,thus creating a new path: resource occupiers can use "self-organization" to have effectively carry out independent governance.Since then,Ostrom?s thought of self-governance follows the analysis context from individual to system,including analyzing the internal and external variables of individual strategy selection,the three difficult problems of self-governance of collective action situation,the eight principles of long-term public resource system and the three levels of collective action system analysis,It also constructs the research framework of the two meta-theoretical levels of IAD and SES,which is helpful to sort out the main variables of a certain system arrangement systematically from the macroscopic level.In addition,Ostrom enriches the cultural characteristics of "economic man" in classical economics by introducing the concept of "social capital",and holds that as an intangible asset contained in the relationship between social organization and social network,social capital can fully excavate the subjectivity of individual autonomy,thus it brings social effect on the basis of avoiding external coercive force,and even transcends the dilemma of collective action.Ostrom's whole research not only has perfect theoretical support,but also has abundant empirical case evidence.It has the characteristics of emphasizing both theoretical analysis and empirical investigation,and is charming by the integration of holistic methodology and interdisciplinary research.In particular,Ostrom's research tries to be close to the real situation,pays great attention to the case analysis and experimental methods in practice observation,and has a strong policy orientation and problem consciousness,and tends to design a general analytical framework with operational and practical policy tools,such as the IAD framework and the SES framework,To develop the common language of human system choice and social preference.In the course of the study,taking into account the objectives of a particular study,a variety of scientific research methods have been selected and adopted,such as case studies,field surveys,meta-analysis,theoretical models and empirical studies,to conduct in-depth research on the institutional structure of Common-Pool Resources such as water resources,forests and offshore fishery resources.At the same time,Ostrom focuses on the complex social ecosystem of interdisciplinary,and makes extensive empirical research on the basis of systematic theory,focusing on the theory of system analysis and public choice and its methods,and is committed to the development of the second generation of collective action theory,in order to effectively integrate empirical research,develop theoretical results that are consistent with practical experience.Ostrom's thought of self-governance has made a pioneering and outstanding contribution to the development of the theory and method of public choice and institutional analysis,as well as to the related research on public policy and new political and economic fields,especially on public things such as Common-Pool Resources.Specific analysis,first of all,in view of the contribution of Ostrom's research conclusions to the theory of public governance,which is often neglected by academic circles,this study will elaborate on the status of this thought in the pedigree of public governance and its founding role in compound democracy,in order to highlight the historical value of Ostrom's thought of self-governance.Secondly,it reviews the theoretical contribution of Ostrom's thought of self-governance and holds that the relevant achievements of Ostrom make researchers no longer insist that the privatization of personal property rights by means of government regulation or external imposition is the only way to avoid "tragedy of the commons",which has important theoretical significance,including the change and tradition of traditional collective action theory.The expansion of institutional analysis horizon,the perfection of rational choice institutionalism,and the foundation stone of multi-center governance theory,and so on.To sum up,this paper argues that Ostrom's thought of self-governance breaks through the traditional collective action theory,expands the existing system theory,provides theoretical guidance for the sustainable use of resources by the occupants of public pond resources in the real situation,and lays a foundation for the multi-center model of public governance.At the same time,this paper explores the limitations and shortcomings of the idea from the applicability and practicability of the thought of self-governance.The former concerns the application of the idea in the aspects of resource objects,organizational types and political systems,while the latter concerns its responsibility-taking,the role of elites,the scope of the population and its excessive dependence on society in the course of its practical operation.To sum up,Ostrom's thought of self-governance is undoubtedly one of the dazzling pearls in today's interweaving of governance changes and disciplines in various countries.Ostrom?s academic thought still provides her insights into the institutional arrangements of public affairs,leaving abundant academic heritage to subsequent researchers,which affects the development of social sciences and even human society.In short,Ostrom's thought is devoted to breaking through the traditional "single-center" model of public management,advocating that overcoming the problem of public resources governance should not rely on the "panacea" simple model,but should build a complex framework covering multiple variables to adapt to complex reality.At the same time,Ostrom attaches great importance to the ability of self-governance within the community,and believes that citizens should take the initiative to assume the relevant responsibilities of the community,rather than regard themselves as consumers of local government services,or as opposing or opposing the authority of the government.