Open property regimes. Issue 2 (September 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Moritz, Mark
• Is Part Of: International Journal of the Commons. Volume 10:Issue 2(2016)
• Page Start: 688
• Page End: 708
• Publication Date: 2016-09
• Subjects: Common-pool resources -- complex adaptive systems -- open access -- pastoralism
• DOI: 10.18352/ijc.719
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1875-0281

Abstract

In the literature on the commons, open access is considered the absence of a property regime and equated with a tragedy of the commons. However, a longitudinal study of mobile pastoralists in the Far North Region of Cameroon shows that open access is not the absence of rules and does not lead to a tragedy of the commons. Current theoretical models cannot explain this phenomenon of management of common-pool grazing resources in a situation of open access. Here I propose a new property regime – an open property regime – that solves this paradox. First, I will explain how open property regimes function as complex adaptive systems using our study of mobile pastoralists in Cameroon. Second, I will describe four other cases of pastoral systems with similar open property regimes. Finally, I discuss the key characteristics that these pastoral systems have in common and outline a new theoretical model of open property regimes.