The Quest to Understand Human Affairs: Essays on Collective, Constitutional, and Epistemic Choice

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The second volume of The Quest to Understand Human Affairs presents thirty-six previously unpublished manuscripts written by Vincent Ostrom, cofounder of the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis. The essays are divided among three parts: Constitutional Choice, Epistemic Choice, and The Quest for Understanding and the Future of Democratic Self-Governance. Part I, Constitutional Choice, includes studies on public sector performance and the constitutional dilemmas facing the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the North American New World of US constitutionalism, and the United States of Mexico. In the essays of Part II, Ostrom turns to the foundational ideas on which the institutions of a particular culture rest. He raises questions about the methodologies of the social sciences and insists that we return to basic questions in our search for institutional forms that will liberate human communities. Part III offers the reader a colloquy on self-governance in which Ostroms speeches and presentations on a variety of twenty-first-century issues are supplemented with letters and memos between Ostrom and visiting scholars and students.

These remarkable works not only offer specialists insight into developments in the fields of institutional analysis, resource governance, policy and administrationduring the second half of the twentieth century and first decade of the new millenniumbut also speak to general readers about worldwide transformations in democracies and human and environment relations as well as the enduring challenge of sustaining just, productive political orders. The Quest to Understand Human Affairs is introduced with a foreword by Nobel Laureate and co-founder of the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis, Elinor Ostrom, with a preface by the editor of the volume, political theorist Barbara Allen.

Reviews

Volume II builds magnificently on the themes of the first volume. Once again Barbara Allen has expertly edited Vincent Ostrom's writings. In this collection readers will find a reflective Ostrom applying his keen understanding of decentralized systems to problems philosophical, practical, and pedagogical. It is impossible to read these essays and not be inspired to think differently about one's own research. -- Jenna Bednar, University of Michigan
Vincent Ostrom made many significant and profound contributions to political theory and public policy. The Quest to Understand Human Affairs presents Ostrom's work in collective, constitutional, and epistemic choice. His project is a radical one exploring the foundation of self-governance, and the self-governing capacity of the citizenry. And, nobody has done more than Vincent Ostrom in understanding the burdens of the democratic way of life, and the political structures consistent with that way of life. -- Peter Boettke, George Mason University
Thirty-six previously unpublished papers explore Vincent Ostrom's work in the fields of institutional analysis, resource governance, public policy, and public administration. * Journal of Economic Literature *

Author Bio

Vincent Ostrom is the founding director of the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis and Arthur F. Bentley Professor Emeritus of political science at Indiana University in Bloomington.

Barbara Allen is professor of political science at Carleton College.