The Role of Collective Action

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the definitions, role and characteristics of collective action, with a particular focus on the main strategies and dynamics regarding its role in proving public goods through agriculture. It is argued that a very relevant issue to be considered when analyzing the dynamics of collective action is what type of organization develops and manages such action, and this chapter provides a detailed description of the main institutional arrangements that may favour the development of grass roots collective action in rural areas. The first part of the chapter shows that some innovative institutional arrangements based on mixed private-public solutions, such as co-production and co-management, may represent effective territorial strategies to promote and support collective action related to the management of natural resources. The second part of the chapter describes the relevance of social capital in implementing those institutional arrangements in rural areas as well as the necessary shift towards a new structure of the agricultural knowledge and innovation systems in agriculture. The Agricultural Innovation System (AIS) should be re-configured in order to favor the implementation of collective strategies aimed at providing public goods through agriculture.