When Ostrom Meets Blockchain: Exploring the Potentials of Blockchain for Commons Governance

Rozas, D., Tenorio Fornés, A., Díaz Molina, S., & Hassan, S. (2021). When Ostrom meets Blockchain: Exploring the potentials of blockchain for commons governance. Sage Open 11 (1), pp. 1-14. DOI: 10.1177/21582440211002526.

14 Pages Posted: 7 Nov 2018 Last revised: 29 Mar 2021

See all articles by David Rozas

David Rozas

Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Antonio Tenorio-Fornés

Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)

Silvia Díaz-Molina

Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)

Samer Hassan

Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM); Harvard University - Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society

Date Written: March 26, 2021

Abstract

Blockchain technologies have generated enthusiasm, yet their potential to enable new forms of governance remains largely unexplored. Two confronting standpoints dominate the emergent debate around blockchain-based governance: discourses characterised by the presence of techno-determinist and market-driven values, which tend to ignore the complexity of social organisation; and critical accounts of such discourses which, whilst contributing to identifying limitations, consider the role of traditional centralised institutions as inherently necessary to enable democratic forms of governance. In this article, we draw on Ostrom’s principles for self-governance of communities to explore the transformative potential of blockchain beyond such standpoints. We approach blockchain through the identification and conceptualisation of six affordances that this technology may provide to communities: tokenisation, formalisation and decentralisation of rules, autonomous automatisation, decentralisation of power over the infrastructure, increasing transparency and codification of trust. For each affordance, we carry out a detailed analysis situating each in the context of Ostrom’s principles, considering both the potentials of algorithmic governance and the importance of incorporating communities’ social practices into blockchain-based tools to foster forms of self-governance. The relationships found between these affordances and Ostrom’s principles allow us to provide a perspective focussed on blockchain-based commons governance.

Keywords: Algorithmic Governance, Blockchain, Commons Governance, Decentralization, Peer Production, Social Innovation

JEL Classification: D700, O310, O330, O350, P400, Z130

Suggested Citation

Rozas, David and Tenorio-Fornés, Antonio and Díaz-Molina, Silvia and Hassan, Samer, When Ostrom Meets Blockchain: Exploring the Potentials of Blockchain for Commons Governance (March 26, 2021). Rozas, D., Tenorio Fornés, A., Díaz Molina, S., & Hassan, S. (2021). When Ostrom meets Blockchain: Exploring the potentials of blockchain for commons governance. Sage Open 11 (1), pp. 1-14. DOI: 10.1177/21582440211002526., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3272329 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3272329

David Rozas (Contact Author)

Universidad Complutense de Madrid ( email )

Faculty of Computer Science
C/ Profesor José García Santesmases 9
Madrid, Madrid 28040
Spain

Antonio Tenorio-Fornés

Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) ( email )

Carretera de Humera s/n
Madrid, Madrid 28223
Spain

Silvia Díaz-Molina

Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) ( email )

Carretera de Humera s/n
Madrid, Madrid 28223
Spain

Samer Hassan

Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) ( email )

Facultad de Informática UCM
c/Profesor José García Santesmases, 9
Madrid, Madrid 28040
Spain

HOME PAGE: http://samer.hassan.name

Harvard University - Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society ( email )

Berkman Klein Center at Harvard University
23 Everett, 2nd Floor
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
1,562
Abstract Views
8,029
Rank
21,821
PlumX Metrics