Abstract
<jats:p>Elinor Ostrom's work on common-pool resource governance produced a durable foundation for analyzing how communities manage shared resources. Subsequent scholars, including Wade, Baland and Platteau, and Agrawal, extended this work into what Agrawal called the critical list of variables for sustaining the commons. Although the list is widely useful, the theoretical meaning of its variables and qualifiers is not always applied consistently, limiting comparability across case studies and large-N analyses. This review traces each variable to its conceptual origin in CPR scholarship and clarifies the theoretical context needed for operationalization. It also distinguishes variables from indicators and case-specific descriptive context, with particular attention to qualifiers such as small, low, gradual, appropriate, and well-defined. The paper argues that preserving theoretical context can improve coding consistency, strengthen cross-case comparison, and support the continued development of CPR theory under changing ecological and institutional pressures. It concludes by identifying several candidate additions and modifications for future testing.</jats:p>