Lesser leviathans: Beyond Elinor Ostrom’s concept of local tyranny

Abstract Elinor Ostrom’s work has been influential for a wide range of scholarly traditions, in part because of the promise it holds for the construction of emancipatory or liberatory local self-governance institutions. Yet Ostrom’s work also highlights the risk of coercive forms of local self-governance. In this paper, we critically analyse Ostrom’s theorisation of ‘local tyranny’. We distinguish several distinct forms of local tyranny, and argue that shortcomings in Ostrom’s metatheoretical apparatus limit her ability to adequately distinguish between some forms of local tyranny and normatively desirable forms of local self-governance. Our overarching claim is that Ostrom’s theoretical apparatus must be extended to better incorporate power dynamics and dissensus, if we are to realise the analytic and emancipatory promise of Ostrom’s work.