The Tragedy of the Commons: A Threat We Must Overcome

Human civilization is a wonderful feat of achievement.

We have built communities that allow for the division of labour.

We have built religious organisations and places of worship that offer a home to the misguided and lost.

We have organised ourselves, throughout history, into different political systems — from Hobbes’ absolute sovereign to our modern democratic governments.

We have created a great many intriguing inventions, which have taken us from zero to one, leading to many products and services we take for granted today.

We have endeavoured through hard times and ultimately prospered.

Yet there is an underlying irony in the success of humanity. Hidden in the shadows, from the beginning to the present day, is the tragedy of the commons.

Tragedy of the Commons

I will first begin this introduction to the topic with a quote.

What is common to the greatest number gets the least amount of care. Men pay most attention to what is their own; they care less for what is common; or at any rate they care for it only to the extent to which each is individually concerned. Even when there is no other cause for inattention, men are more prone to neglect their duty when they think that another is attending to it.

Aristotle, Politics (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946), 1261b.

In our astounding rise as a species, we have achieved such heights, but to what cost?

The cost of our common goods.

A common good is a good shared by all people, regardless of identity and state, such as land, water, and even our atmosphere. It is a good that is the responsibility of no single individual, entity, government, state, or organisation to protect.

The tragedy at hand is that maintaining a common good comes at a cost to those maintaining it, whilst everyone yields benefits from the maintenance of the good.

The countries that spend billions each year to maintain our common goods do so with the belief that others will comply. For if one does not, but all others are, that one entity enjoys the maintained common good without the expense.

If one self-interested actor refrains from maintaining a common good, others are likely to follow suit.

This tragedy highlights the limitations of the anarchic global stage, whereby nation-state actors are not required to comply with maintaining common goods.

Achieving Collective Action

Collective action on issues impacting our common goods remains virtually impossible, onerous at best.

In recent decades, International Relations scholars have turned their attention to defending our common goods, but alas, remain largely unsuccessful. Unfortunately, I remain doubtful that any permanent remedy can be found.

Seldom will our governments reach agreements that overcome this tragedy, and when they do, the infrequency in which all involved achieve what they set out to is commonplace.

So, forgive me if I sound despondent, this tragedy is present in my thoughts persistently.

Although, perhaps this is what is required of ourselves if we are to once again endeavour and prosper as a global civilization.

This article serves as an introduction to the tragedy of the commons, and will be a foundational piece for future articles I publish.

Please leave your thoughts and any feedback in the comments, thank you for reading.