Self-governance is a fundamental aspect of democracy, and an essential foundation of societal
cooperation and problem-solving in the United States. Vincent and Elinor Ostrom’s seminal
research identified important pitfalls and opportunities for self-governance within complex societies
(V. Ostrom 1971, 1994) and pinpointed key factors (“design principles”) associated with
robust self-governance, specifically in semi-autonomous communities (E. Ostrom 1990, 2010).
However, the enabling conditions for broad-scale self-organization and cooperation within complex,
highly regulated systems, including government agencies, modern organizations, and partnerships,
are poorly understood. It is therefore difficult to engineer self-governing systems (e.g.,
failures of emergent democracies, collaboratives), or sustain the adaptive, democratic cooperation
many societies require (Shivakumar 2005). The current research presentation builds upon
Sarker’s (2013) concept of state-reinforced self-governance, and theories of social-ecological
resilience and adaptive governance (Chaffin 2016), to discuss preliminary legal design principles,
whereby official governments may facilitate self-governance and encourage societal cooperation.
Research opportunities and challenges are discussed.
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