ABSTRACT
In ‘Collective Action and the Evolution of Social Norms’ Elinor Ostrom notes that ‘[c]ontextual variables are … essential for understanding the initial growth and sustainability of collective action as well as the challenges that long-surviving, self-organized regimes must try to overcome’ (2000, p. 153). Simply saying that context matters is not, however, sufficient. A more systematic approach, she notes, is needed. Our contribution takes a closer look at the idea of analysis that acknowledges the preeminent place of contextual and circumstantial configurations of variables in social science. Today the notion of contextual analysis and context sensitivity have spurred a whole domain that has grown up to the point that an entire Oxford Handbook has been dedicated to the theme (Goodin & Tilly, 2008). Ostrom was one of the pioneers of the idea as well as one of the first to think about methodical ways of dealing with the problems it poses. Our essay looks at this theme as well as a couple of pioneering insights articulated by Ostrom and her associates, regarding how we should deal with its methodological and epistemic challenges.
