Ostromian Self-governance: Emancipation or Simply Changing the Locus of Servitude?

Elinor and Vincent Ostrom held a strong belief in the importance of self-governance and in the capacity of individuals to successfully fulfill that responsibility. Their work demonstrated the essential nature of citizen involvement in governing through formal and informal institutions in a variety of challenging settings. In their work on federalism, metropolitan service delivery, and common pool resources they established how governing with citizens, rather than governing over citizens, resulted in superior outcomes, particularly when the good involved required coproduction between government and the citizen. Government is still the focus for the Ostroms, but it is constrained and closer to its members, with citizens responsible to do the work of checking its power. Under such an approach, the importance of emancipation is clear. In this chapter I explore the Ostrom approach to self-governance to consider to what extent it adequately facilitates liberty in the classical liberal tradition and at what cost to individuals. Individuals are governed but they contribute to how they are bound. As there are diverse individuals there are likewise many forms of liberal governance consistent with this logic. This ability to choose and define the social community becomes the key to “good” governance for the Ostroms. Questions I will consider include how communities form and survive under an Ostrom framework, what role exit and sorting play in this Ostromian form of self-governance, and how this polycentric form of self-governing communities contributes to, but also limits, the liberty and emancipation of the individual.