Individual Principle #7
Rules are external, principles come from within
To start at the beginning of this series on Individual Principles for Long Enduring Common Pool Resources, please read the introduction here.
Minimal Recognition of Rights to Organize
We all know the feeling of having to follow rules imposed on us by another person, group, or institution. I’m not judging the rules themselves, they may or may not be effective or helpful or confounding. Of course there are good rules and bad rules. The effectiveness of any rule goes hand in hand with the ability of people and communities to update, change, or replace a rule.
“The rights of appropriators to devise their own institutions are not challenged by external government authorities.” - Elinor Ostrom
In the case of Ostrom’s work, she explored rules around common pool resources such as commercial fishing and forestry, and found her eight principles (the inspiration for this series on individual principles) to be present in many of the world’s long lasting resources. Sure, in extreme cases a government or despot can impose rules for any topic at the barrel of a gun, but over time, bad rules will eventually eat themselves. For natural resources, this is especially apparent; the fish or trees are there to be harvested or they are not. When the food is gone, when the fuel and building materials are absent, the rules will be ignored, altered, or in some places, they will become the fuel for revolution.
“But if external government officials presume that only they have the authority to set the rules, then it will be very difficult for local appropriators to sustain a rule-governed [common pool resource] over the long run.” - Elinor Ostrom
I’m not calling for revolution, at least not in the political sense. Any revolution in individual principles between people and nature has to start… in the individual person. I am, you are, where the enforcement begins and ends. Enforcement may sound harsh when we think of applying something to ourselves, but it’s typical of collective institutions. Laws need enforcing. But there’s a reason I am using the word “principle” instead of “law”. It’s not a word game, there’s a difference.
Law: a rule of conduct or procedure established by custom, agreement, or authority / the body of rules and principles governing the affairs of a community and enforced by a political authority; a legal system / the condition of social order and justice created by adherence to such a system
Principle: a basic truth, law or assumption / a rule or standard, especially of good behavior / the collectivity of moral or ethical standards or judgments
See the difference? If Ostrom’s seventh principle reminds us that government officials ought not make presumptions about their authority, our seventh individual principle applies the same thinking to each of us. We can rephrase Ostrom’s collective perspective down to the individual to read something like this:
“If an individual is more concerned about enforcing external rules in place of honing their internal principles, it is more difficult to establish a healthy relationship with nature.”
