The authors thank Arun Agrawal, Shaul Cohen, Christine Mitchell, Alec Murphy, Jesse Ribot, and Shivy Sivaramakrishnan for comments on early drafts of this article. We also benefited from comments when an earlier draft was presented at the 1998 conference of the International Association for the Study of Common Property, in Vancouver, BC. Thanks are also due to colleagues at the University of Malawi, especially the Centre for Social Research, and to our research assistants. Funding for research by the first author was provided by the Social Science Research Council, the National Science Foundation, the Wenner-Gren Foundation, and the Insti- tute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Research by both authors was supported by grants to the Harvard Institute for International Development from the U.S. Agency for International Development and the World Bank. Exceptionally helpful comments were provided by three anonymous reviewers. Above all, we thank the many people in Mchombo and Napolo villages who shared their ideas and their busy days to talk with us.Fil: Peter A. Walker. Department of Geography; University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon, USAFil: Pauline E. Peters. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA