Paradigms lost: changing views on the use of common property resources

According to Hardin, author of the tragedy of the commons paradigm, the sum total of environmental resources are condemned to over-exploitation and degradation through the actions of a small number of individuals bent on maximising their short-term profit. More recently however researchers interested in the management of common resources have contested Hardin's pessimistic views. They have noticed that most users of common resources cooperate …