This paper argues that the accumulation of scientific knowledge and the trajectory of technological change represent significant, but under-analyzed, influences on global commons regimes. Science and technology are especially relevant for commons management: they define the boundaries of each ‘domain’ or ‘issue area,’ determine user activities, and create management opportunity. Putting interest, power, and ideational factors in the position of intervening variable reveals the macro-structural frame of scientific and technological progress for global commons regime creation, maintenance, and effectiveness. Because the unchangeable material constraints of the universe determine the course of science and technological progress, their influences on commons regimes are more tractable objects of analysis, and constitute the hard foundation for other approaches. By foregrounding the constraining and enabling forces of scientific and technological change, this paper elucidates a materialist theory of global commons management, applicable to the science-based regimes for the ocean, atmosphere, electro-magnetic spectrum, and outer space.
