Management of Common Resources: Theoretical Perspectives and Practical Experiences

Common resources include goods that are not owned by private or government owners &are available for unlimited use by all citizens. Natural resources, as the main part of common resources, will suffer "tragedy of commons" if overused. Considering the importance of these resources &the crisis caused by over-exploitation, this article seeks to define the common resources &describes how the tragedy of the commons occurs. Also, to provide a description of the existing views about the management of common resources during the last two centuries. These views &practical experiences are categorized under three government-oriented, market-oriented &local community participation strategies. Considering that the results indicate the ineffectiveness of adopting a one-sided strategy in the management of commons, in recent decades, has been emphasized the necessity of adopting a combination of three strategies. The final part of the article describes Elinor Ostrom's views as the most prominent approach of a hybrid strategy based on polycentric governance.