Cooperation and Conflict in Nature
from Part I - Broad Insights from Political Science to Molecular Behavior
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 February 2021
Cooperation is the defining feature of societies; in these groups, members work together to achieve something that the individuals alone cannot. We marvel at cooperation in part because it requires communication and coordination, complex behaviors that speak directly to the creative, constructive power of natural selection. Nevertheless, societies can be disrupted by internal conflicts (Hurst et al., 1996; Chapman, 2006; Ratnieks et al., 2006; Burt and Trivers, 2009; Queller and Strassmann, 2018; Sachs et al., 2018). Conflict can be defined in many ways, but it amounts to an incentive to defect because actions that benefit the individual (e.g., do not pay taxes) run counter to those that benefit the group (everyone pays their taxes). In some cases, conflict results in a tragedy of the commons, where cooperation produces goods that are available to all, but some individuals deplete the public good without contributing to its production.
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