Elinor (Lin) Ostrom was awarded the 2009 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for her pathbreaking research on "economic governance, especially the commons"; but she also made important contributions to several other fields of political economy and public policy. The range of topics she covered and the multiple methods she used might convey the mistaken impression that her body of work is disjointed and incoherent. This four-volume compendium of papers written by Lin, alone or with various coauthors (most notably including her husband and partner, Vincent), supplemented by others expanding on their work, brings together the common strands of research that serve to tie her impressive oeuvre together. That oeuvre, together with Vincent's own impressive body of work, has come to define a distinctive school of political-economic thought, the "Bloomington School." Each of the four volumes is organized around a central theme of Lin's work. Volume 1 explores the roles played by the concept polycentricity in the disciplines of public administration, political science, and other forms of political economy. Polycentricity denotes a complex system of governance in which public authorities, citizens, and private organizations work together to establish and enforce the rules that guide their behavior. It encapsulates an approach toward policy analysis that blurs standard disciplinary boundaries between the social sciences. Throughout their long and remarkably productive careers, Elinor and Vincent Ostrom never tired of reminding us of the capacity of ordinary humans to transcend their own limitations by engaging with others in the myriad forms of collective action required to build and sustain a self-governing society. Their careers stand as exemplars of the proper relationship between rigorous scholarship and responsible citizenship.
Contents viii CONTENTS PART III: A NEW VISION FOR PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION 7 Public Choice: A Different Approach to the Study of Public Administration 165 Vincent Ostrom and Elinor Ostrom 8 Alternative Approaches to the Organization of Public Proprietary Interests 189 Vincent Ostrom 9 Executive Leadership, Authority Relationships, and Public Entrepreneurship 217 Vincent Ostrom 10 Artisanship and Artifact 233 Vincent Ostrom 11 Refl ections on Vincent Ostrom, Public Administration, and Polycentricity 251 Michael D. McGinnis and Elinor Ostrom PART IV: LESSONS FOR THE STUDY AND PRACTICE OF POLITICS 12 Elinor Ostrom: Politics as Problem-Solving in Polycentric Settings 281 Michael D. McGinnis 13 Converting Threats into Opportunities 307 Elinor Ostrom 14 A Frequently Overlooked Precondition of Democracy: Citizens Knowledgeable about and Engaged in Collective Action 337 Elinor Ostrom Index 353 Contributors 000
