Elinor Ostrom's Rules for Radicals: Cooperative Alternatives Beyond Markets and States

by Derek Wall

Elinor Ostrom was both a groundbreaking thinker and one of the foremost economists of our age. The first and only woman to win the Nobel Prize for Economics, her revolutionary theorizing of the commons opened the way for non-capitalist economic alternatives on a massive scale. And yet, astonishingly, most modern radicals know little about her.
 
Elinor Ostrom's Rules for Radicals fixes that injustice, revealing the indispensability of her work on green politics, alternative economics, and radical democracy. Derek Wall’s analysis of her theses addresses some of the common misconceptions of her work and reveals her strong commitment to a radical ideological framework. This helpful guide will engage scholars and activists across a range of disciplines, including political economy, political science, and ecology, as well as those keen to implement her work in practice. As activists continue to reject traditional models of centralized power, Ostrom’s theories will become even more crucial in creating economies that exist beyond markets and states.
 

Genres: Economics, Politics, Nonfiction, Ecology, Theory, Activism

160 pages, Hardcover

Published January 15, 2018

Reviews

[Patrick Walsh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is not about rules for radicals. They're barely mentioned past the first page.

This book is a rather informal overview of Elinor Ostrom's ideas, organized by topic. Lots of what Wall talks about is only barely interpretable in Ostrom, which he acknowledges. The substantial distance between this book and Ostrom's academic work would make this a poor book for someone wanting to get into Ostrom.

I found it somewhat inspiring to read about an economist with minimal ideology, a pluralistic approach, and who demands fair considerations of alternatives, like the commons, her most famous subject.

[Joy]

i read this for a module about, among other topics, the sociology of economics - lots of meta things blowing my mind slowly and the ideas discussed in this book are quite a lot of them. ostrom's thoughts about an economic system that's neither really about the market nor about the state but more of a 'by the people, for the people' kind of view go against conventionally taught neoclassical economics. it raises questions about how our primary economic assumptions (human rationality and self-interested decision-making) are subtly sculpted by the economics educations we receive, which in turn are only as unbiased—or in this case, as biased—as the predominant school of thought of the field, when in real life it seems that there are phenomena of cooperation that work in spite of what formal theory predicts. after all, humans are social creatures! emotional creatures! it makes me think about how it is we really come to believe what we accept as truth - we are all products of the biases of our societies and the limitations of our perspectives. what other possibilities have we overlooked in the search for solutions to global problems like inequality and climate change, while having unknowingly donned academic blinkers?

anyway, this is still a hard book to rate on a linear scale because most of its ideas don't actually belong to the guy who wrote it. while i appreciate wall's synthesis and thematic summaries of ostrom's research and his passion for presenting her very thought-provoking work in an accessible, easy-to-read form (yer boi derek is the fanboy of fanboys), his actual writing is so-so. he repeats some of the same anecdotes throughout the book when he could have taken the opportunity to make fresher points, and the editing is actually trash, with strange grammatical errors and comma splices littered throughout as though the sentences weren't already blurring together enough after i'd been cramped in the same position for 2.5 hours straight, struggling to finish the whole book in one sitting because the school library only loans it out for returns within the same day.

yeah so, idk, you tell me. how many stars should this guy get

[Debbie Notkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elinor Ostrom, whose name is barely known, was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Economics, which she took home in 2009. Her work, much of which was done in concert with her economist husband Vincent Ostrom, was in the area of collective ownership and group management of resources. She is perhaps best known for refuting Garrett Hardin's famous "The Tragedy of the Commons," which held complete sway in economics for decades. Hardin's essay, which claims that any communally owned resources will inevitably be trashed, is still far too well-regarded, and Ostrom's careful and specific takedown of its claims is far too little-known.

Ostrom was not, in the most familiar sense of the word, a radical. She believed in ownership and capitalism; she just also believed, based on rigorous study, that many many forms of collective stewardship are successful and sustainable. The book's author, Derek Wall, has distilled her ideas into 13 "rules for radicals," which are quite excellent, including

1. Think about institutions
2. Pose social change as problem-solving
4. Listen to the people.
8. Map power

When Wall is actually writing about Ostrom, he is clear and concise (which Ostrom herself was not). The book is marred by Wall's endless apologetic tone--he is far too committed to trying to convince radicals that Ostrom is radical enough for them to pay attention to. He frequently interrupts his explanatory prose to defend her against charges of being too conservative, but he never actually provides evidence that anyone is saying that.

The book needs to have the dust of defensiveness swept out of its corners, so a reader can just learn about Ostrom and not about the critique the author is afraid of. But Ostrom is fascinating, so it was all worth it.

[Javier · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is definitely an interesting examination of the approach of Elinor Ostrom, an economist whose work on the commons and common property natural resources represents an important corrective to the neoclassical, neoliberal emphasis on privatization. Ostrom was the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Economics, in 2009. Wall demonstrates how Ostrom's career, which is sometimes considered to be liberal in orientation, in fact stresses ecology, direct democracy, feminism, and decentralized collective decision-making, and for this reason has important lessons for the left. Wall clarifies that, though Ostrom never considered herself to be anti-capitalist or advocated the commons as a "panacea," both her methodological style as well as her findings hold very subversive meanings.

As I was somewhat familiar with Ostrom's work before reading this, I found some of the text pretty dry, though I will endeavor to reflect on Wall's overall argument in the time to come. No doubt, Ostrom's egalitarianism and anti-authoritarianism remain exceedingly relevant. A refocus on restoring the commons through socialization/communization or collectivization of the land and means of production and defending them through dismantling capitalism and restoring ecological balance are incredibly important projects for our time!

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't know a lot about Elinor Ostrom prior to reading this, and as she has provided a great deal of work that refutes Garrett Hardin's destructive "tragedy of the commons" parable, it's really great to have an accessible introduction to her ideas available for the left (and probably for others).

The chapter about governance of the commons made me think about some of the community conservation committees I've participated in, and ways they could evolve and improve. The chapter on "science for the people" likewise made me think about new ways to do academic research. And the chapter on institutions brought home some of what I think about contemporary left politics: too much abstract sloganeering, cargo-cult "wait for the revolution" politics (or electoralist gradualism) - and little strategic analysis of the institutions we're up against and how to win battles against them. Ostrom's methods of analysis and her findings don't strike me as entirely novel or as always the best tool, but a tool they are and worth considering at least.

Derek Wall's account is readable and reasonably approachable for a non-economist I think, but at times it's pretty dry. I also sometimes found it hard to discern whether he was referring to specific ideas that Ostrom articulated, or rather to implications he finds arising from her ideas. The chapter on "feminism and intersectionality" struck me like this in particular. Maybe I missed some qualifiers or references as I was reading it - but I found it hard to separate Ostrom's views from those of Wall.

This was to a large degree remedied in the final chapter, where Wall explicitly makes his summation of what he thinks are the main lessons that can be learned from Ostrom's work, and what fair criticisms can be made by the left. This brings back together the threads of the various chapters quite well.

Looking at micro-scale economics and institutions may not shake capitalism to its foundations, but it's hard to imagine a serious anti-capitalist alternative progressing without paying attention to these issues. And Ostrom's ideas fit very much in the idea of the "withering away of the state" which the left needs to reclaim (check Michael Lebowitz's reading of Marx on this for a clear enunciation of it). Certainly this book is worth the read.

[Luis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stream of consciousness; not much in the way of… actual rules?

I really wanted to like this, and it was a good way to get my head back in the Ostrom headspace after some years away. But the writing was too often practically stream-of-consciousness; more editing and a stronger thesis - what are the rules? What examples can we build on? - would really have been beneficial. Shame, because the core argument - progressives/radicals should learn from Ostrom - really is coherent and important.

[Tim Mcleod · Rating 3 out of 5]

Makes some interesting connections and quote-worthy statements. A bit repetitive, which is disappointing given that it's a essentially a long essay at 123 pages.

[Garret Wassermann · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent overview and summary of Ostrom's research on the commons and institutional analysis. A good place to start if you're concerned about capitalism but don't want centralized state control - this book covers Ostrom's research showing an alternative to both. The author Derek Wall seems to be trying to keep the discussion simply and accessible but that makes the comments feel a bit too generic and repetitive by the end, so while I enjoyed the book, I did wish it had a bit more discussion and commentary on how it applies to modern organizations and movements. Wall is a member of the Green Party in the UK and it would have been interesting to hear more about experience talking about the commons and direct democracy within the Green Party and with outreach to voters.

[Mister Oolong · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting but somewhat dull introduction to Elinor Ostrom and the commons, and what the Left can learn from her.

[KT · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent, accessible primer on Elinor Ostrom's work with details of her life particularly her partnership with her husband Vincent Ostrom

I thought the author did a good job explaining Ostrom's research on the commons based on observations from indigenous groups as well as its applications to climate change, ecology, green politics and democracy, as well as expanding on her openness to political views across the spectrum and willingness to engage, as exemplified by her belief that diverse forms of political authority were beneficial as defined in the concept of polycentrism and anti-essentialism

[Matthew Dungey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great spotlighter

Derek emphasises some really important qualities of Elinor Ostrom's work and direction of study. The pragmatic, the ecological and the focus on problem solving; all areas which can transcend the gridlocked, polarised world of politics. Has put me back on track after being dragged into the quagmire recently!