Collection
Competition and Cooperation

This collection explores the dynamic equilibrium of competition and cooperation both within and among different groups. While history is full of examples of dominant competitors, it also produces numerous instances of cooperative alliances conferring insuperable advantage, for example The History of the Inca Realm, which was expanded both through military conquest and through non-violent "reciprocity". We even see cooperative behavior among enemies that accrues to the advantage of both, as to be found in The Marshall Plan.

The competition of all against all tends time and again to the establishment of cooperative systems. Even in the unconscious process of biological evolution , we can observe numerous instances of cooperative co-adaptation of formerly independent entities. The Origins of Life explains 8 major evolutionary transitions that have enabled increasing biological complexities. However, cooperation among natural competitors always exists in a state of tension.

What are the strategic advantages and limitations of cooperative behavior? And how can cooperation be sustained over time in the face of pressures that favor individual defection from the group?