ABSTRACT
This chapter argues to the contrary, that it is not likely that governments can overcome the failure of collective action in designing a regime that counteracts the free rider problem in relation to the management of common-pool resources. It examines the optimistic model of common-pool management in the form of an enquiry into an empirical case of the governance of common pool resources, where information is abundant. The chapter also examines the theory of common pool governance in relation to governments as the players and engaged in the governance of the Baltic Sea as a concrete example of a large common pool. In the governance of a common pool resource, one may find a teleological assumption about state behavior in the sense that governments would naturally wish to implement most desirable solutions to the problem of managing common pool resources. The management of common pool resources involves collective action problems.
