ABSTRACT
This chapter describes that the sustainable management of the global commons requires an analytic framework that recognizes the fundamental institutional characteristics that define all common-pool resource regimes. The chapter establishes a clear picture of property rights and the ways in which various property regimes evolve and are legitimated. It begins with an overview of the Western legal tradition, showing how feudalism and domination by the Roman Catholic Church gave way to mercantilism and individualism. Mercantilism and individualism in turn led to modern notions of property and ownership. The chapter discusses three of the modern concepts that have had a significant effect on the global commons regimes: the property rights paradigm, national sovereignty, and the "common heritage of mankind" (CHM) principle. Regime theory parallels important aspects of the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework developed for analysis of small-scale common pool resources by Elinor Ostrom and others.
