Common Goods

As European countries become more interdependent, the provision of common goods increasingly must be organized across national boundaries, levels of government, and sectors. In addition, former adversaries in the public and private sectors must learn to collaborate rather than compete. These changing paradigms call for new institutional and instrumental arrangements that move beyond existing modes of national governance. Offering a unique focus on the emerging role of private actors, this volume explores the evolving challenge of governing common goods in an increasingly transnational environment. The first systematic analysis of institutional solutions for providing common goods, this book shows how hierarchies established over centuries of nation-state rule have become obsolete, while negotiation and self-regulation have grown in importance. The contributors explore innovative solutions to the collective action problems countries encounter when clear lines of traditional authority dissolve.