ABSTRACT
This chapter considers how “governance” – the means through which societies make decisions about the environment – contribute to the processes of commonisation and decommonisation in coastal systems. Notably, the oscillation between central government authority and hybrid governance networks highlights important shifts in how we govern the commons, the role of the state relative to other actors, and the mechanisms through which societies sustain just and equitable environmental commons. Using selected cases from around the world, we focus on commonisation and decommonisation processes with a particular emphasis on the influence of actor networks, rights and rules of decision making, and the role of material and discursive power. We suggest that our approach can help to anticipate and predict some of the governance-related drivers of change that catalyse processes of (de)commonisation.
