A Long Polycentric Journey

Posted: 14 Oct 2010

See all articles by Elinor Ostrom

Elinor Ostrom

Indiana University, Bloomington - Department of Political Science

Date Written: June 2010

Abstract

In this account, I discuss my own personal journey and the efforts of many of us associated with the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis at Indiana University to develop better analyses of how institutions affect behavior and outcomes in diverse settings. First, I reflect on my experience as a young student and in my early career, primarily to encourage those who face obstacles. Then, I discuss our institutional analysis and our research on urban governance and common-pool resources, which helped me to develop more general frameworks for the analysis of complex systems over time. The frameworks have enabled us to dig into and analyze system structure, behavior, and outcomes to make and test coherent predictions and build better theory. Last, I share some ideas concerning future scholarly directions.

Suggested Citation

Ostrom, Elinor, A Long Polycentric Journey (June 2010). Annual Review of Political Science, Vol. 13, pp. 1-23, 2010, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1691302 or http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev.polisci.090808.123259

Elinor Ostrom (Contact Author)

Indiana University, Bloomington - Department of Political Science ( email )

Bloomington, IN
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Abstract Views
1,388
PlumX Metrics