A Response from Marlene Goldsmith

Village politics: Heterogeneity, leadership and collective action

“…This places more weight in the explanation of collective action on authority, rules, networks, and learning, and less on resources and exchange processes related to entrepreneurial response to relative price changes in markets as often maintained in neoinstitutional economics and conventional property rights theory. 22 There are many forces that shape a village property regime beyond those defining collective action dilemmas discussed here. Drought and ecological variability are independent factors leading to decline in local household economies and reduced capacity for coordinated action and supply of leadership.…”

“…The author wishes to thank Boubacar Ba and Salmana Cisse for valuable assistance with field-work, and Erling Berge, Espen Sjaastad and one anonymous reviewer for helpful comments. 22 See also the wider literature on CPR regimes: Ostrom [1992;; Singleton and Taylor [1992]; Bromley [1992]; Hackett [1992]; Hackett et al [1994;; Young [1995]; Alston, Eggertson, North (eds) [1996]; Hanna et al [1996]; Mearns [1996]; Meinzen-Dick and Jackson [1996]; Edwards and Stein [1998;; Leach, Mearns, Scoones, [1998]. 3 Politics is here defined as competition for power among interest groups and influence on decisions with effects on coordinated action in the management of CPRs.…”

The Kiss of Death and Cabal of Dons: Blackmail and Grooming in Georgian Oxford

“…He was brutally framed by a gang of blackmailers, at first convicted and later appealed, prevailed, and eventually cleared his name. 4 But others without his resources and connections were less fortunate, and even Henry Fielding, Justice of the Peace and magistrate for Westminster and Middlesex and recently the famous novelist of Tom Jones, noted early in 1751 to what degree gangs of sexual blackmailers were proliferating and roaming the streets of London looking for easy prey. 5 Blackmail could also occur in more ingenious ways; staged in advance in cases where delivery boys targeted their victims among their clients, and by mid-century it also included children focusing on targeting particular adults for economic gain.…”