A Long Polycentric Journey  

I learned early, however, that individuals facing [collective action problems and tragedies of the commons] do not always need an external authority to extract them from their tragedy. When they have arenas in which they can engage with one another, can learn to trust one another, can draw on sources of reliable data, can ensure monitoring of their decisions, can create new instrumentalities, and can adapt over time, they are frequently, though by no means always, able to extract themselves from these challenging dilemmas.

– Elinor Ostrom (1933–2012)