Managing Environment: A Critique of ‘The Tragedy of Commons’

Here we will first define what the concept of ‘tragedy of commons’ is. Secondly, we will discuss about various manifest and latent assumptions of the tragedy of commons thesis, especially its text and context. Thirdly, we will critically analyse these assumptions in the light of various theoretical perspectives and issues put forward by the various social scientists: viz. the theory of property rights, theory of assurance problem and theory of environment entitlements. Fourthly, we will test this thesis against the empirical evidence through various case studies from different pans of the third world. Finally, we will suggest some conclusive findings on the theoretical and empirical lines.