COMMUNITIES IN TRANSITION: IMPLICATIONS FOR COMMON PROPERTY RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Abstract

ABSTRACT Rapid and expanding processes of urbanization, globalization and industrialization resulting in a constant flow of information, money, objects, ideologies, and people are today's reality, and it is crucial to understand the ambiguity and complexity that arises from such flows and dynamics. They increase interactions and heterogeneity, change social relations and communities, and reshape identities and boundaries. Societies are becoming more and more transitional, changing to varying degrees and forms. These complicated social transformations are affecting each and every society to varying degrees and bring significant changes in almost every aspect of social life. This paper is an attempt to grasp the complex dynamics that characterize village societies in transition and their impact on the management of common property (pool) resources (CPR).2 The studies of common property resources have focused on communities that are reasonably free of the influence of significant externally induced change. However, external interactions bring changes that, directly or indirectly, undermine common property systems and weaken the possibility for collective action. The changes are economic, socio-cultural and political in nature and tend to influence all spheres of village life. The paper identifies potentially vulnerable areas in the management of common property resources in the villages that are situated near expanding townships—especially the • decrease in perceived need to rely on local resources; • change in individual preferences; • enhanced economic, social, and geographical mobility of the villagers; • high opportunity costs of social arrangements to manage local resources; • gradual loss of common interests and group identity, and • integration in to the market that encourages higher spending and an increasing desire for immediate consumption. The paper examines the characteristics of CPR institutions in the changing scenarios and the need for support mechanisms for the continued effective governance of the commons.