Class 5:
The power of rationality
Christos Zografos, PhD
Institute of Environmental Science & Technology (ICTA)
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain
christos.zografos@uab.cat
Power, politics and environmental change
MA Environmental Humanities 2013-14
Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic

Purpose
•A dominant way to understand rational action increases ability of some to impose their will upon
others even against others’ will – application for environmental governance
•An alternative way of understanding rationality can provide a powerful argument for more
democratic (plural) decision-making (processes)
•
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Outline
•The model
•Rationality as individual profit maximisation that brings tragedy
–Hardin’s “commons”
–Hardin’s “rational herdsman”
•Narrative adopted for environmental governance
–Creating markets to “internalise externalities”
–Implications: environmental degradation & property rights transfer (Commons privatisation)
•
•Model limitations
•Question 1: Is Hardin’s “commons” really a commons?
•Question 2: Is Hardin’s “rational herdsman” only way to be rational?
–Human action as moral action
–The essence of human action

ASSIGNMENT QUESTION
•Monbiot explains that Hardin’s model of individual action (how the herdsman acts in the commons
pasture) has provided a rational argument for multi-lateral institutions and governments to pursue
widespread privatisation of natural resources and massive transfers of communal lands to the state
or individuals around the world.
•How does Wolfensohn use Hardin’s model to explain why biodiversity declines?
•According to him (Wolfensohn), what sorts of mechanisms are established to help avoid this
decline?
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Classroom Question 1
•Hardin says that ‘tragedy’ happens in the commons: why? And, how?
•Two main, basic elements produce tragedy
–The “open” commons
–The rational herdsman
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Hardin’s pasture
•“Picture a pasture open to all”
•Argument: in a finite world, one‘s decision to give birth implies reducing available resources for
the rest
–Just like in a ‘commons’
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David Cox ‘The Shepherd, Return of the Flock' (source: http://www.1st-art-gallery.com)

“Picture a pasture open to all”
oWith this quasi-bucolic image, Garrett Hardin starts his description of how the Tragedy of the
Commons unfolds in his well-known 1968 article in Science.
oAddressing the Pacific Division of the American Association for the Advancement of Science which
he presided over at the time (the article is a reprint of his address)
oHardin used the parable of the commons‘ to support his argument on the need to effect a moral
transformation in governance through regulation and education in order to deal with the issue of
overpopulation.
Hardin argued that in a finite world, one‘s decision to give birth implied reducing available
resources for the rest, and paralleled this decision to that of using resources in what he called a
commons.

Human action/ behaviour
•For example: a commoner deciding whether to add one more animal to his herd :
–As a rational being, each herdsman seeks to maximize his gain.
–Explicitly or implicitly, more or less consciously, he asks:
–“What is the utility to me of adding one more animal to my herd?”
•Rational being:
–Utilitarian
–Individualist
–Profit-maximiser
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Using the example of a commoner deciding whether to add one more animal to his herd, Hardin posed
that:
As a rational being, each herdsman seeks to maximize his gain. Explicitly or implicitly, more or
less consciously, he asks, ―What is the utility to me of adding one more animal to my herd?
Utilitarian: “What is the utility...?”
‘Utility’: “a measure of relative satisfaction”
    total satisfaction received by herdsman (in econs: by consumer)
herdsman = utilitarian person: judges his actions (i.e. whether to do something or not) by looking
if it maximises overall ‘good’ (satisfaction)
Individualist: “What is the utility to me…?”
Profit-maximiser: “What is the utility to me of adding one more animal to my herd?”

Individualist utility
•Utility: measure of relative satisfaction
–positive component: benefit from selling additional animal products
–negative component: overgrazing created by additional animal
•But adverse effects of overgrazing = shared by all commoners
–Herdsman: only fraction of –ve effect – but whole benefit of one more unit!
–Only rational decision: add one more animal -> constantly add animals
•But: what reasonable for our herdsman is reasonable for all herdsmen
–So: all add more and more animals to their herd
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Overgrazing in Alxa League, western Inner Mongolia (source: http://www.adb.org)

Result: tragedy
•“Therein is the tragedy. Each man is locked into a system that compels him to increase his herd
without limit—in a world that is limited
•“Ruin is the destination toward which all men rush, each pursuing his own best interest in a
society that believes in the freedom of the commons
•“Freedom in a commons brings ruin to all”
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Camels graze in a destroyed village in Western Darfur (source:
http://postconflict.unep.ch/sudanreport)

Monbiot 1994
•Hardin’s model of human action: a ‘rational’ argument for multi-lateral institutions and
governments to pursue widespread privatisation of natural resources and massive transfers of
communal lands to the state or individuals (private ownership) around the world (e.g. developing
countries)
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Source: http://www.rozsavage.com/

Wolfensohn: ‘global environmental commons’
•Logic for ‘new’ category of commons:
•The ‘global environmental commons’ (e.g. biodiversity)
•The WB approach: Wolfensohn explaining to UNEP readers
–environmental services such as biodiversity constitute invaluable global commons that are not
effectively protected by individual countries
–because these countries have ―limited economic incentives for taking action on the global
environment
–
•But, this is something to be expected
–it is in the nature of a global public good such as environmental services to attract decisions
taken at the country level
–that do not adequately reflect their global impacts
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Institutions such as the World Bank still put forward this logic in order to defend such natural
resource management strategies as regards a new category of commons: the ‘environmental commons’.
Then president of the World Bank James D. Wolfensohn explained to the readers of the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP) official magazine
environmental services such as biodiversity constitute invaluable global commons that are not
effectively protected by individual countries
because these countries have ―limited economic incentives for taking action on the global
environment‖.
But, Wolfensohn tells us, this is something to be expected
it is in the nature of a global public good such as environmental services to attract decisions
taken at the country level
that do not adequately reflect their global impacts
Consider for example a developing country rich in biodiverse rainforests but drawn into poverty
Its government would be happy to deplete all resources available in these forests for the country‘s
economic development
no matter if in the course of this use, several ecologically valuable species disappear

Wolfensohn
•Consider for example a developing country rich in biodiverse rainforests but drawn into poverty
[DRC: 1/17 mega-diverse countries; UN (2008): population > 57.5 million people – 75% live below
poverty line]
–Its government would be happy to deplete all resources available in these forests for the
country‘s economic development
–no matter if in the course of this use, several ecologically valuable species disappear
•
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Poverty in the Congo (source: http://shs.westport.k12.ct.us)

Institutions such as the World Bank still put forward this logic in order to defend such natural
resource management strategies as regards a new category of commons: the ‘environmental commons’.
Then president of the World Bank James D. Wolfensohn explained to the readers of the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP) official magazine
environmental services such as biodiversity constitute invaluable global commons that are not
effectively protected by individual countries
because these countries have ―limited economic incentives for taking action on the global
environment‖.
But, Wolfensohn tells us, this is something to be expected
it is in the nature of a global public good such as environmental services to attract decisions
taken at the country level
that do not adequately reflect their global impacts
Consider for example a developing country rich in biodiverse rainforests but drawn into poverty
Its government would be happy to deplete all resources available in these forests for the country‘s
economic development
no matter if in the course of this use, several ecologically valuable species disappear

Hardin’s herdsman resuscitated
•Here, Hardin‘s all-powerful ‘rational‘ herdsman forcefully emerges again
•Do you see this??
–Only in this case he comes in the guise of an ‘individual country‘
–
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Source: http://madderhatters.org/
Source: www.worldatlas.com
Source: http://www.tcf-me.com

Internalising externalities
•What does Wolfersohn suggest should be done?
–Externalities
–Internalisation of externalities
–Markets
•OK, but before this, let’s pause for a minute and ask ourselves: who is Mr Wolfersohn?
–Look at the small letters!
•
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Internalising externalities
•The World Bank president explains: this [what government of a country such as DRC does] is what
economists describe as a situation where ― regional and global externalities are not internalised
at the national level
•Externality
–unintended detrimental (e.g. pollution) consequence associated with the production of a commodity
(good) or an economic activity
–and nobody accounts for (pays for) this effect
•E.g. detrimental effect in DRC: biodiversity loss
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Internalising externalities
•Internalise externalities: make someone pay for externality
–If they pay, they will not do it
•How can you do this?
–Create a “market”: a physical or virtual place where someone can pay for creating externality
•
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The answer
•The Bank‘s task is precisely to generate those—previously absent—markets in which global
environmental goods and services and global non-market values can be traded
•One such example is the Global Environment Facility (GEF) where those values are captured
primarily through international resource transfers
•
•
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The Global Environment Facility
•Griffiths, 2005:
•main intergovernmental mechanism for addressing “global” environmental problems incl. biodiversity
loss
•Main vehicle for international funding for the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
–“cornerstone” of GEF biodiversity projects are those that promote protected areas (and e.g.
ecotourism) – many of which overlay lands and territories of indigenous peoples
–
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Griffiths, 2005
•Research suggests that several GEF projects overlook critical land tenure and property rights
issues and remove control over decision-making and access to areas traditionally used by local
indigenous communities (e.g. as hunting sites)
–GEF projects regularly treat local populations as beneficiaries rather than rights holders
–
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IS HARDIN’S COMMONS REALLY A COMMONS?
•Question 1


Overexploitation not in commons
•Hardin‘s explanation of producing & avoiding environmental degradation criticised
•Hardin’s model does not describe a common property regime
–but an open access situation: use of NR not regulated by any rules at all
–
•‘Commons‘ are well-defined systems
–governed by mutually beneficial and compelling regulations
–Owned by communities (i.e. not “open to all”)
–
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HE implications: property rights
•Privatising commonly-held resources = best solution for protecting valuable resources as it gives
a private incentive to conserve them for private benefit
–commons have successfully supported populations and fragile environments living in marginal
(fertility potential) areas (e.g. peri-desert areas in Africa)
•Enclosure of commons results in private appropriation of what used to be a common benefit
–commons privatisation results in making a few already rich landowners even richer while
transforming commoner populations to social and economic pariahs (via resource take-over)
•
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HE implications: nature’s degradation
•It is actually private owners (enclosers) who
–not only benefit from destroying commons
–but also contribute to the demise of the commons (environment)
•They first move in to aggressively exploit resources to their full potential and then quickly sell
them off in order to acquire more promising resources in other areas
•
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HE implications: power
•HE: a model of rationality
•HE: at basis of (i.e. supports, produces) policies
–Unfair (environmental justice): take away means of livelihood from communities
•Reduce them to ‘users’ than owners
•Power issue: take away control of their environment (NR)
–Wrong conceptual-analytical starting point
•based on understanding of commons that applies to open access (not common property)
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IS HARDIN AND WOLFENSOHN’S RATIONALITY THE ONLY ONE AROUND?
•Question 2


Rationality
•Hardin’s model of rational human action: suggests that: Rationality = individualist utilitarian
profit-maximiser
–brings tragedy
•RATIONALITY QUESTION 1: Do we, i.e. all of us, really always think and act towards the environment
in such a way? I.e. seek to maximise our individualist profits?
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EE: human action as moral action
•“Protest bids” in CVM studies
–What CVM tries to do
–“Protest bids”: 0 or infinite value
–Treatment of “protest bids”
•Ethical concerns of protest bids
–Environmental preferences may reflect rights-based attitudes towards nature
•Behaviour towards the environment has ethical premises
–EV are better understood as a concern with “what is the right/ good thing to do?” (as humans
towards the environment)
–EV have ethical (“what is right/ good?”) premises

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Ways of answering the question
•teleological (telos: end, purpose)/ consequentialist
–A concern with outcomes, consequences of your actions
–a morally correct action is one that provides the ‘best’ outcome (e.g. in utilitarianism: the
morally ‘best’ action is this that provides the highest overall gain in happiness for society,
individual, etc.)
–
•deontologicalism (deon: duty)/ rights-based
–A concern with duties and moral imperatives that actions keep/ infringe
–morally justified action is one that fulfils a pre-established duty or obligation (e.g. respect
human dignity) without regard to the results of following that duty

RATIONALITY QUESTION 2:
•What is the essence of rational action of the Hardin-Wolfensohn model of human behaviour?


HE: essence of rational action
•Instrumental action
•Action = a means for achieving given/ predetermined goals
–Material outcomes
–Satisfaction of values
–
•Central aspect of HE view of human behaviour: understanding of human action as instrumental
–
•Example
•The ‘rational’ herder
–
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Essence of rational action
•Communicative action:
–the essence of rational action is not always instrumental (achieve individual goals) but it can
also be to reach understanding between oneself and other actors, or society in general (Dryzek,
2000)
–Type of action involved with communicative rationality may thus reflect logics that go beyond
instrumental seeking of pre-defined ends
•
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Question
•How do we make decisions when people’s rationality is oriented towards “reaching understanding”?
–i.e. when people participate in a group that seeks solutions and they are motivated by the urge to
“reach understanding”?
–On what basis?
–What principle do we use?
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Consensus
•Communicative action:
–on basis of shared understanding that goals are reasonable or merit-worthy
•Communicative action succeeds: when actors freely agree that their goals are reasonable/ they
merit cooperative behaviour
–Strategic action succeeds: when actors achieve their individual goals
•Communicative action: a consensual form of social interaction
–Consensus: consent over a favourite option of those participating
–Not always or absolute agreement
–Not through voting, but through discussion
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Deliberative democracy
•Democratic life emerges in situations where institutions enable citizens reach such understanding
–By rationally debating matters of public importance: deliberation
–
•Deliberation: decide on an issue by:
–Discussing it, bringing in all arguments
–Listening to others (incl. but not limited to ‘expert’-knowledge) opinions
–Reflecting on what others have said: give space for
–Change initial views on topic on the basis of what you’ve heard
–Reach agreement, consensus, on merit-worthy course of collective action
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Benefits of making decisions on basis of deliberation
•Deliberation of matters of public importance: most legitimate and useful guide to public
decision-making
•Legitimate: because
–All possible views are taken into account during decision-making
–Agreement over course of collective action is result of voluntary agreement/ change of opinions
•Useful: because effective
–When your views have been considered you are more likely to not obstruct implementation of
policies as you have already been part of process and have been convinced about usefulness of
action taken
•
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Criticism, limitations: Bickerstaff & Walker, 2005
•“efforts which emphasise the fairness and competence of decision-making processes are important
•“but more basic questions regarding the distribution of political power (inside and outside
deliberative forums)
•“and the institutional capacity for democratic change need be addressed
•“to fully consider the importance of deliberative institutions”
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