Village irrigation in Laos: Traditional patterns of common property resource management

Many lowland Lao villages manage traditional paddy rice irrigation systems constructed of local materials. The process of securing agreement to construct such a system, as well as the patterns of mobilizing farmers for operations and maintenance, illustrate the relevance of the Assurance Problem model for understanding collective behavior in managing common property resources. Household cooperation and compliance with irrigation system rules is not isolated behavior, but must be understood in the context of village norms of mutual assistance, social support, and decision‐making by consensus. Comparing Lao patterns of regulating access to other natural resources with successful and unsuccessful irrigation systems suggests the limits of successful common property management, and the situations in which it is likely to occur.