The Latin word cooperatio led to the term cooperation , which refers to the act and result of cooperating : acting together to achieve a common goal or acting in favor of someone's interests .
For example: "Due to the consequences of the floods, the victims will need everyone's cooperation to move forward," "Excuse me, could I ask for your cooperation?" "I have a mechanical problem and I need help pushing my car," "Both countries established a scientific cooperation agreement."
Cooperation implies collaboration , contribution or assistance . Suppose that two nations sign an educational cooperation agreement . The pact proposes that educational policy experts and educators from both countries work together to improve the training of all inhabitants.
Cooperation agreements in different areas are common between States to enhance each other. In this framework we can talk about military cooperation , environmental cooperation , judicial cooperation and economic cooperation , among others.
There are also various international cooperation organizations. Among them is the Indian Ocean Regional Cooperation , established in 1995 and currently made up of nineteen members. Its function is to provide information to businessmen in the region to promote investment and commercial activity.
The Black Sea Economic Cooperation , for its part, works to establish common criteria that allow regional development . This institution was created in 1992 , with headquarters in Istanbul ( Turkey ). Its members include Turkey , Russia , Greece , Ukraine , Romania , Serbia , Bulgaria and Albania .
Various researchers, including Martin Nowak and Robert Axelrod , developed the theory of cooperation at the end of the 20th century, based on the idea that each individual pursues his or her own interest, without a central authority forcing them to help others. . Axelrod published a book titled The Evolution of Cooperation , in which he investigates the ways in which cooperation arises and is maintained in a community, and under what conditions selfishness usually predominates.
An American mathematician named Merrill Flood Meeks , for his part, developed a problem called the prisoner's dilemma , which serves to demonstrate that two individuals can choose not to cooperate even if this is contrary to the personal interest of each one. Let's see its classic enunciation below:
Two suspicious people are arrested by the police. There is not enough evidence to convict them, so they separate them and offer them the following treatment: if only one of them confesses, they grant her freedom and sentence the other to ten years in prison; If both confess, then they are sentenced to six years; If both deny their guilt, then the sentence for both is one year.
Taking these possibilities into account, if the two prisoners are selfish and only pursue the goal of being released as soon as possible, they have two options at their disposal: remain silent to help their accomplice, or betray him through a confession. Let's not forget that each person's decision does not result in a specific sentence until the other's decision occurs and, to complicate things even more, neither of them knows what their partner will do.
The study of this dilemma leads us to suppose that not even after a supposed conversation in which both prisoners could agree could they really trust the other, and for this reason cooperation is not the dominant attitude , but confession; Of course, if both decide to confess, believing that in this way they increase the chances of being released, both will be subject to a sentence.