Common Boundaries: The Theory and Practice of Environmental Property

How do we – and how should we – engage with the natural environment through the concepts of rights and responsibilities? In this book, Michael Cox develops the theory and practice of environmental property rights, moving beyond simplistic assumptions that do not reflect the diversity of arrangements we see in the world. Recognizing this diversity will help us craft better responses to environmental problems in the future with an interdisciplinary foundation in what has worked, or not worked, in the past. Synthesizing a variety of methods and disciplines, Cox explores rights-based environmental policies as well as different cultural approaches to environmental ownership. The result is a book that helps the reader understand the full range of possibilities when it comes to environmental ownership.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Part I Collective action and groups 1. The tragedy of the commons 2. Boundaries 3. Kinship, reciprocity and intrinsic value Part II Bundles of rights 4. Control and use rights 5. Exchange rights Part III: Property regimes and policy panaceas 6. Policy panaceas 7. Individual and common property 8. States and hybrid regimes 9. Market policies 10. Conclusion Appendix 1: Ostrom’s design principles

About the Author :
Michael Cox is Professor of Environmental Studies at Dartmouth College. He has a PhD in Public Affairs from Indiana University, where he studied under Elinor Ostrom.

Review :
Common Boundaries will quickly become a must-read book for researchers and students interested in environment, governance and property. A brilliant meditation on the origins of cooperation and a critical analysis of prospects for sustainability, this thought-provoking contribution pushes the boundaries of what we know and identifies future directions we must go. Michael Cox has written a very readable account of the theory and practice of collective action as applied to environmental governance. Embedding his discussion in the framework provided by Garrett Hardin and especially Elinor Ostrom, he moves seamlessly from game theory to case studies, exploring various mechanisms, for example involving boundaries and property rights, that can lead to cooperation and collective action. The book will be of interest both to students across a wide spectrum, and to interested non-specialists. In Common Boundaries, Michael Cox takes readers on a mountain-top journey to view the complex, interconnecting systems of knowledge by and through which we strive to live justly and sustainably with each other and the natural world. From that vantage point, aided by insightful case studies and an impressive array of interdisciplinary scholarship, Cox points a way forward in formulating environmental policies that are just, inclusive and impactful. This is an important book for experts and general audiences alike. Michael Cox’s synthetic effort succeeds at offering an updated institutional theory of the diversity of environmental property rights. He does so by aptly weaving foundational concepts and empirical research on collective action, evolutionary biology, behavioral economics, environmental psychology, among others. The result is a theoretically innovative and policy-relevant contribution for students and practitioners seeking more nuanced approaches for environmental governance, better reflecting the diverse ways humans interact with a rapidly changing environment. (Like hosting his podcast), Michael Cox writes as if in conversation with the reader, explaining a wide span of time, theory and global examples, in a way that is readable, teachable and clear. Common Boundaries offers a vital resource to not only understand but shape, one of the most fundamental, yet layered, pivotal, yet taken for granted, forces of our lives. Michael Cox develops the concept of self-governance in the broadest possible way, from the individual to the planet and everything in between. Common Boundaries is both philosophically deep and immensely useful for anyone trying to evolve a better world.