Pseudo-Commons in Post-Socialist Countries

In contrast to the critique towards Hardin’s misconception of a tragedy of the commons, a “real” tragedy of the commons exists when the common-property regime may only exist on paper and not supported with activities, or may be set up purposefully to serve individual benefits.
With this mini-conference we want to explore what the so-called pseudo-commons mean. In particular, we would like to address the following questions:

• Do we find such pseudo-commons increasingly in post-socialist countries and
• What would be typical examples?
• What would be the reasons for emergence of such pseudo-commons?
• Can we blame the implementation of real socialism in the past, dominant groups of political and economic elites during the transition phase, the persisting socialist legacy or the sometimes-called prevailing Soviet-mentality as being responsible for the appearance of pseudo-commons?
• Do we find promising examples of commons management and collective action in post-socialist countries, and what can we learn from them?