Cooperation (Meaning and Explanation)

We explain what cooperation is and what cooperation consists of as a value. What is biological and international cooperation.

What is cooperation?

When we talk about cooperation, we refer to a concept applicable to numerous areas of human life and in general, related to the sum of efforts between several individuals or groups of individuals to achieve a common goal, from which everyone then benefits. This concept has been the object of study from various disciplines of human knowledge, such as biology, anthropology, economics, etc.

In fact, there is a Cooperation theory, developed by researchers such as Robert Axelrod and Martin Nowakamong others, which stipulates that there are four essential conditions for cooperation between two individuals to occur:

Overlap of desires, that is, both share an achievable goal.
Probability of future meetings between the two, that is, the possibility of a future relationship.
Positive memories of past encounters between both individuals.
A value associated with future results, that is, the result is so important that cooperation is desirable or tolerable.

Cooperation is, thus, the total opposite of competition or competitionin which two or more individuals confront and compete to obtain a benefit.

Cooperation as a value

Cooperation - Teamwork — Cooperation fosters solidarity and teamwork.

Cooperation is, in most cultures, a social and ethical value, that is, appreciable and valued behavior. Teamwork, for example, is encouraged from an early age and throughout formal schooling, in addition to being essential for the exercise of politics, for a peaceful society and even for the practice of many sports. In that sense, people with a disposition for cooperation and solidarity are usually valued, perhaps because selfishness and individualism seem to be intrinsic to human nature.

Biological cooperation

In the natural world, cooperation is also common. It can occur between individuals of the same species or different species.always in favor of mutual benefit, whether by protecting themselves from predators, feeding back their metabolisms, exchanging defense for food, etc. Depending on the conditions in which it occurs, we can talk about:

Mutualism. When both species obtain benefits from their interaction, as is the case with mycorrhizae: fungi that live among the roots of a tree, obtaining nutrients from it and giving it water reserves in exchange.
Commensalism. When the cooperation is involuntary on the part of one of the two species, that is, the benefit is for only one, but does not cause any type of damage in return to the other. This is what happens with remoras that adhere to the shark to be transported more quickly, without causing any damage in the process.
Symbiosis. When cooperation is so close that it practically becomes dependency, since both organisms require the other to live. This is what happens with the bacterial flora in our intestines: hundreds of species of bacteria live inside us and help us digest and process food, to such a degree that we could not do it as well without them.

International cooperation

International cooperation or cooperation between countries is a form of charity organization between stateswhich aims to meet each other's needs in a way that benefits them both, or that provides them with mutual opportunities that the rest of their international relationships lack. In other words, countries, like organizations, require allies to survive, and these alliances are established through international cooperation treaties, among other pacts.

Thus, instead of competing and impoverishing the living conditions of their citizens, States can generally cooperate to establish a minimum framework for commercial, economic, social, cultural exchange or of any type, which does not rule out the existence between them of a set of “free” commercial relations, that is, of free and objective competition.

International cooperation usually occurs around delicate and vital topicssuch as humanitarian and/or ecological crises, military alliances, cooperation in legal, judicial or cultural terms, if not the construction of common laws that allow narrower degrees of mutual benefit.

Economic cooperation

Economic cooperation is a concept that encompasses various models of interaction between organizations, between States and even between individuals, to sustain a commercial or financial exchange with the necessary flexibility and consensus to allow and promote the strengthening of the economies of both countries. In this way, competition and damage to the other's economy are avoided, guaranteeing, among other things, the duration of peace between both nations; Let us remember that wars always have economic motivations behind them.

At the same time, the figure of the Cooperative is worthy of mention here, since arises since the 19th century as a mode of economic-productive association that, although it has profit purposes, does not subject its members to the rigors of market competitiveness, but instead offers a dynamic of mutual support and solidarity that escapes the dynamics ferocious of capitalism.