Analysis Of Garrett Hardin's Tragedy Of The Commons

Memorandum (Week 3)
• Roy Yeo •
Article 1: The Tragedy of the Commons Garrett Hardin (1968)
Garrett Hardin’s classic “Tragedy of the Commons” theory has often been cited by researchers even until today. Despite being a widely understood theory, I have some reservations with regards to the validity of his claims made in this article. Hardin coined the phrase “Tragedy of the Commons” as a phenomenon, similar to the “Prisoner’s Dilemma ”, where people thinking only about their own self-interest, would exploit a shared resource (i.e. common) to the extent that it will eventually become degraded. Hardin illustrates this concept by giving an example of a perished pasture that was a result of overgrazing by the farmers. In his opinion, the only two solutions to managing a common are – government control (socialism) or privatisation (Garrett Hardin, 1968).
At a first glance, the “Tragedy of the Commons” phenomenon seems to be logical and realistic,

• Can Ostrom’s principles be applied to the larger commons? What may be some of the potential challenges that policymakers face when dealing with large global commons as opposed to smaller-scale local commons? References
Angus, I. (25 August, 2008). Climate and Capitalism. Retrieved from Climate and Capitalism: http://climateandcapitalism.com/2008/08/25/debunking-the-tragedy-of-the-commons/
Garrett Hardin. (1968). The Tragedy of the Commons. Science, New Series, Vol. 162, No. 3859, 1243-1248.
Ostrom, E. (1999). Revisiting the Commons: Local Lessons, Global Challenges. Science's Compass, 284.
Rowe, J. (2008). The Parallel Economy of the Commons. In State of the World: Innovations for a Sustainable Economy (p. 138). The Worldwatch Institute.
Tomkin, J. (n.d.). Tragedy of the Commons: Solutions. Retrieved from Coursera: