Expanding the Tragedy of the Commons Archetype: A Systems Thinking Reflection

The paper "The Tragedy of the Commons" by Hardin in 1968 highlighted the potential depletion of shared resources due to the self-interested behavior of individuals. This study sparked interest in scholars to understand how individuals make sense of shared resources and how to prevent over-exploitation. Elinor Ostrom challenged the assumption of the rational actor and showed that communities could self-organize and develop effective institutional arrangements to protect shared resources. She introduced systems thinking to understand the interactions between common resources and the broader system of socio-material practices. This conceptual study aims to integrate the failure to refrain and act perspectives by developing a qualitative system dynamics model that expands the tragedy of the commons archetype. Systems archetypes are generalized patterns of behavior that abstract the underlying structure of complex systems. The study aims to discover and summarize archetypical patterns and factors that contribute to their emergence. This approach contributes to the common goods theory and systems thinking literature streams while offering a practical tool for policymakers to see trends and choose effective actions to enhance and regulate the system. Indeed, studying underlying patterns in the behavior of systems helps to distinguish between successful and ineffective actions.