Conditional Cooperation Research Articles

Barriers to inter-municipal cooperation

This article investigates barriers to inter-municipal cooperation in Slovakia, a country that is essentially formed of small municipalities. In a fragmented municipal structure, inter-municipal cooperation could be the way to achieve lower costs for service provision while maintaining or even increasing a quality service, taking into account economies of scale. The study aimed to identify the barriers to inter-municipal cooperation in Slovak conditions. The study uses a questionnaire and a qualitative expert opinions method. The potential of cost saving in local public services was identified as a motivation for inter-municipal cooperation. The main identified barriers are transaction costs (of different types), non-existent benchmarks (no regular comparisons of best solutions), and limited motivation to select the optimal mode of service provision.

Development of Trends in Russian-Mongolian Educational Cooperation in New Conditions

Introduction. The article is devoted to the problem of international relations in the field of higher education. The purpose of the study is to consider the development of modern Russian-Mongolian educational cooperation. The authors set the following objectives of the article: to reveal the role of the Russian language as one of the tools for the development of Russian-Mongolian educational cooperation; to enumerate and describe the features of the promotion of Russian higher education in Mongolia; to illustrate the experience of developing Russian-Mongolian educational cooperation on the example of Novosibirsk universities.Methodology and sources. The study of the problem of international cooperation in the field of higher education is based on a socio-cultural approach. The methodological basis is the concept of education as a «soft power». The study is conducted with the use of the following sociological methods: the focus group-method; analysis of secondary sociological research; comparison; generalization. The sources of the study are the regulatory documents on which Russian-Mongolian relations are based as well as data from other studies on the topic.Results and discussion. Based on the data obtained, the researchers come to the conclusion about positive trends in educational cooperation, however, the potential of Russian-Mongolian relations is not fully realized. After the pandemic, more active promotion of Russian educational programs in Mongolia is needed, which will allow updating approaches to Russian-Mongolian cooperation in the field of higher education. The article offers a list of measures for the development of Russian-Mongolian cooperation, including the development of intercultural communication and dialogue between Russian and Mongolian students.Conclusion. Based on the data obtained, the researchers came come to the conclusion about positive trends in educational cooperation, however, the potential of Russian-Mongolian relations is not fully realized. After the pandemic, more active promotion of Russian educational programs in Mongolia is needed, which will allow updating approaches to Russian-Mongolian cooperation in the field of higher education. The article offers a list of measures for the development of Russian-Mongolian cooperation, including the development of intercultural communication and dialogue between Russian and Mongolian students.

Designing a social policy initiative for greater cooperation: social dilemmas, behavioural game theory, motives, altruism and ethics

Drawing on the experience of editing this special issue, I propose a method for developing the early stages of social policy interventions requiring cooperation, based on two phenomena foundational to approaching this challenge. I recommend that the first stage is methodological – the application of behavioural game theory – and that the second is analysis of a psychological process – the motivations of those involved. A potential third step is use of a toolbox of factors known to encourage cooperation that I discussed in my introductory article for the issue. Three further processes are important for social dilemma policy development: conditional cooperation, trust and feedback. I go on to discuss: the contrasting properties of selfish and altruistic motives for cooperating, particularly in terms of their sensitivity to influence; the long-term prospects for altruistically motivated cooperation; and ethical aspects of tackling societal dilemmas through bottom-up and top-down agents for change. Finally, I consider the current state of the relationship between behavioural science and social policy.

DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION OF THE BORDERLINE TERRITORIAL COMMUNITIES OF UKRAINE WITH THE EU COUNTRIES UNDER MARTIAL LAW

In the article, international cooperation of territorial communities of Ukraine is defined as a strategic direction to attract financial resources and implement their investment projects. The authors name prerequisites for completing the reform of decentralization in Ukraine. It is stressed that the full-scale russian invasion of Ukraine and declaration of martial law have caused structural transformations in the parameters of performance of the local government bodies. The study is devoted to the theoretical and applied aspects of the organization and development of international cooperation among the territorial communities in Ukraine. The paper describes the methodology developed to study the international cooperation of territorial communities. The authors make an assessment of the conditions of international cooperation of territorial communities bordering the European Union countries and present results of the questionnaire conducted amongst managers of the border territorial communities of Ukraine in order to identify parameters of the international activity development. The analysis was conducted to clarify peculiarities of establishing cooperation of the bodies of local government of Ukraine with foreign partners and to find out restrictions and challenges influencing the communities’ opportunity to implement international initiatives and cooperation in conditions of the russian-Ukrainian war. The researchers have developed a complex of measures necessary to improve the efficiency of the international cooperation between Ukrainian local territorial communities bordering the EU and foreign partners by carrying out a promotional campaign among the representatives of the local government bodies and developing a complex system of advanced training for the staff employed at the local power authorities in the field of international activity. It is also needed to enhance the institutional basis regulating the international activity of the territorial communities of Ukraine, to upgrade the financial and economic basis of the international cooperation implementation, as well as to accelerate the rates of development of the border infrastructure objects.

FEATURES OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION IN SWITZERLAND

The article provides an analysis of the current problems of education in Switzerland. Based on the development of normative materials (national and cantonal levels), scientific research by foreign scientists (U. Bekolli, X. Bueler, U. Fredriksson, B. Getto, A. Gretler, T. Holzer, M. Keim, K. Maag-Merki, J. Zulliger) and generalization of the educational activities of practicing teachers (N. Boruvka, К. Кirr, R. Stuber) the Swiss education system is characterized, the latest trends and contradictions in its development are highlighted.In the course of the general historical and pedagogical discourse, it was emphasized that Switzerland has fundamental pedagogical traditions, which are reflected in the works of J. Pestalozzi (1746-1827), A. Ferrier (1841-1919), J.-Zh. Rousseau (1712-1778), E. Clavius (1837-1906). It has been established that modern education in Switzerland is decentralized and lies within the responsibility of cantons (administrative units), so certain features may exist in different regions of the country. However, the general principles of organizing the education system of the Swiss cantons are similar. Each canton establishes its own educational calendar, curriculum and didactic criteria.The basic structure of Swiss education includes the following levels: preschool education, primary education, secondary education (lower secondary education and upper secondary education), vocational education, higher education. One of the features of the education system in Switzerland is multilingualism. Four languages are officially recognized in the country: German, French, Italian and Romansh. Depending on the region, the language of instruction may differ. Foreign languages are highly valued in the Swiss education system. Most children and young people learn English and at least a second national language. It is also worth noting that the education system in Switzerland is quite flexible, there are different paths and programs that meet the needs of pupils and students with different educational goals and interests.It was found that the problems of education in Switzerland are studied by many scientists who specialize in the field of education, psychology and sociology. Among the most urgent problems of Swiss pedagogy, it is appropriate to single out the following aspects: digitalization of education and the impact of this process on the transformation of educational interaction between teacher and student, teacher and student (pedagogical creativity and cooperation in conditions of digitalization); organization of didactic communication in a multicultural and multilingual educational environment (approximately 25% of the population of Switzerland is made up of foreigners); professional development of teachers (lack of support for innovation, inflated expectations of society, instability of employment, etc.); application of labor education and productive work in the educational process; improvement of ties between educational institutions and basic enterprises, etc.

СОЦИАЛЬНЫЕ МОТИВЫ РАЗВИТИЯ СЕЛЬСКОХОЗЯЙСТВЕННОЙ КООПЕРАЦИИ

The emergence of new models of socially oriented cooperatives in the agrarian sector of the economy is a necessary condition for the realization of successful economic policy of the state, implemented in conditions of institutional tension. The cooperative movement in Russia has a unique multifaceted and at the same time complex character of functioning. With the powerful development of agricultural holdings, which act as the main drivers of agricultural production and export, small farmers face signifi cant problems in building a successful cooperative system. The purpose of the research, the results of which are presented in this article, is to develop a comprehensive approach to the study of social motives for the development of agricultural cooperation in the modern market environment in the context of its special role in the development of the agricultural industry, rural communities and rural areas. In the framework of this study, the factors constraining the development of cooperative associations were identifi ed, the model of values of new-type cooperatives was proposed, including the key role of leadership as the main driving force for the powerful development of agricultural cooperation. The factors of cooperative trust formation are identifi ed in order to increase motivation and encouragement to join these associations. The conclusions formulate the most signifi cant parameters of the new model of cooperative knowledge management, contributing to the sustainable development of the Russian cooperation in modern conditions, acceptable for its realization with the following parameters.

Modelling farmland dynamics in response to farmer decisions using an advanced irrigation-related agent-based model

Often, individual, communal, regional, or even national conflicts arise when water resources are shared and used. For equitable water-sharing strategies to be implemented, adequate collective action is required to allocate water – not limited to, but specifically in irrigation systems. In this research, we develop an Advanced Irrigation-Related Agent-Based Model (AIRABM) to explore issues of unequal access to water in relation to water use on farm and system levels. By simulating farmer activities and system management decisions within an irrigation system, our research aims to explore farmland dynamics in response to different levels of decision-making according to water availability. We incorporate both individual and collective decision-making processes to explore patterns in farmers’ yields and the dynamics of farmlands. Our results show that (1) within a prevailing trend of increasing yields for higher river discharge and gate capacity, (2) the influence of water availability is characterized by nonlinear changes in yields in response to variations in river discharge and gate capacity, revealing thresholds and tipping points, with (3) strategies for water redistribution partially alleviate inequitable water allocation between upstream and downstream farmers, although considerable variation persists in individual farmers’ and system-wide harvest outcomes. The AIRABM emphasizes individual and collective decision-making processes, encapsulating the uncertainty stemming from water availability and harvests of individual farmers. The modeling framework serves as a valuable tool to explore cooperative approaches in shared (water) resource management. Our findings provide meaningful suggestions to study and promote communication and (conditional) cooperation measures between farmers and management, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of irrigation water distribution.

Co-evolution of conditional cooperation and social norm

The co-evolution of conditional cooperation and social norms has garnered significant attention, yet the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. Social norms result from empirical expectations, individual expectations of group behavior, and normative expectations, the population's expectations of individual behavior. Aligning these expectations aids in norm formation, but diverse individual reactions to observed behavior and their sensitivity to norm conformity can be challenging. In our study, the agents are initially endowed with diverse conditional expectations, which mirror their anticipations regarding group behavior and their inherent inclination to conform to social norms, indicative of their sensitivity to psychic costs. These agents engage in a repeated public goods game, where their decisions to cooperate are shaped by their conditional expectations and the observed levels of cooperation within their group. Concurrently, free riders experience psychic costs determined by the overall level of cooperation, contribution costs, and the individual’s inclination to adhere to social norms. Remarkably, our simulations unveil that agents commencing with random conditional expectations and a propensity to conform to norms can adapt to lower conditional expectations and moderate their propensity to conform to norms when initial cooperation levels are high and the contribution cost is reduced. Interestingly, increasing contribution costs intensify the population’s response to norm enforcement, but this doesn’t always result in a corresponding increase in cooperation. By incorporating population diversity and accounting for empirical and normative expectations within our model, we gain valuable insights into the intricate relationship between conditional cooperation and the emergence of social norms.

Evolution of conditional cooperation in collective-risk social dilemma with repeated group interactions.

The evolution and long-term sustenance of cooperation has consistently piqued scholarly interest across the disciplines of evolutionary biology and social sciences. Previous theoretical and experimental studies on collective risk social dilemma games have revealed that the risk of collective failure will affect the evolution of cooperation. In the real world, individuals usually adjust their decisions based on environmental factors such as risk intensity and cooperation level. However, it is still not well understood how such conditional behaviours affect the evolution of cooperation in repeated group interactions scenario from a theoretical perspective. Here, we construct an evolutionary game model with repeated interactions, in which defectors decide whether to cooperate in subsequent rounds of the game based on whether the risk exceeds their tolerance threshold and whether the number of cooperators exceeds the collective goal in the early rounds of the game. We find that the introduction of conditional cooperation strategy can effectively promote the emergence of cooperation, especially when the risk is low. In addition, the risk threshold significantly affects the evolutionary outcomes, with a high risk promoting the emergence of cooperation. Importantly, when the risk of failure to reach collective goals exceeds a certain threshold, the timely transition from a defective strategy to a cooperative strategy by conditional cooperators is beneficial for maintaining high-level cooperation.

Distributed conditional cooperation model predictive control of interconnected microgrids

In this paper, we propose a model predictive control based operation strategy that allows for power exchange between interconnected microgrids. Particularly, the approach ensures that each microgrid benefits from power exchange with others. This is realised by including a condition which is based on the islanded operation cost. The overall model predictive control problem is posed as a mixed-integer quadratically-constrained program and solved using a distributed algorithm that iteratively updates continuous and integer variables. For this algorithm, termination, feasibility and computational properties are discussed. The performance and the computational benefits of the proposed strategy are highlighted in an illustrative case study.

The Difficulty of Making Good Work Available to All

ABSTRACTHow might good work – skilled, autonomous work which affords workers opportunities for meaningful social cooperation in decent conditions – be made available to all? I evaluate five commonly advanced strategies: an unregulated labor market, egalitarian redistribution of resources, state regulation, collective bargaining, and workplace democracy. Each, I argue, has significant limitations. An unregulated labor market ignores workers' unduly weak bargaining power vis‐à‐vis employers. Egalitarian redistribution alone fails to solve this problem due to distinctive and endemic imperfections of labor markets. Direct state regulation is insufficiently context‐sensitive and insufficiently dynamic in the face of technological and other developments. Collective bargaining gives workers only indirect and sometimes costly influence over their working conditions. And workplace democracy leaves workers vulnerable to collective action problems induced by competition between firms. I argue, however, that these strategies can be complemented in a promising way by ‘syndicalist economic democracy’: direct worker participation in the government of the economy, largely specific to particular occupations or economic sectors but above the level of the individual workplace.

The effect of historical payoffs on individual strategy updates in the Prisoner's Dilemma

Understanding the evolution of cooperation among selfish individuals remains a big challenge. In this paper, we introduce a new update rule in which individuals make decision according to their historical performance in the Prisoner's Dilemma game on a square lattice. Comparing our results with the Prisoner's Dilemma experiment, such an update rule can explain the experiment well, suggesting that this update rule may be useful for understanding the behavior of individuals in the experiment. Importantly, we can use this rule to explain the moody conditional cooperation.

Between cooperation and conflict: tracing the variance in relations of traditional governance institutions and the state in Sub-Saharan Africa

The relationship between the state and traditional governance institutions (TGI) in contemporary politics has recently received increased scholarly attention. Traditional leaders play important roles in elections, public goods provision or conflict resolution in Sub-Saharan Africa. We analyse under what conditions cooperation or conflict emerge between the state and TGI. We contribute to the understanding of state-traditional relations by studying how governments interact simultaneously with varying TGI of different ethnic groups. We compare state-TGI relations for eight traditional polities in Kenya, Namibia, Tanzania, and Uganda, based on extensive fieldwork and interviews with state and traditional authorities, experts and constituents. We study three factors shaping state relations with different TGI: (1) the significance of TGI – both social and organisational – in each country and ethnic group; (2) the institutional similarity of TGI and state; and (3) the integration of TGI – both legal and political. Our analysis shows TGI with social significance and functional organisations challenge the state more frequently. Constitutional ambiguity fosters conflict between TGI and state. For our cases, relations are less conflictive in countries with more democratic governments. The same governments and TGI often simultaneously engage in cooperative and conflictive relations, highlighting that governments rarely pursue uniform policies with all TGI.

Coordination of care is facilitated by delayed feeding and collective arrivals in the long-tailed tit

When multiple carers invest in a shared brood, there is likely to be conflict among individuals over how much each carer invests. This conflict results in suboptimal investment to the detriment of all carers. It has been proposed that conditional cooperation, that is, ‘turn taking’ or ‘alternation’, may resolve this conflict by preventing exploitation. This contentious idea has received some empirical support, but distinguishing active alternation from that expected via passive processes has proved challenging. The aim of this study was to use detailed observations of provisioning to examine whether carers at biparental (parents only) and cooperative (parents and helpers) nests of the long-tailed tit, Aegithalos caudatus, behave in a context-dependent manner that increases the level of alternation. First, we show that carers that had been the last to feed waited near the nest (loitering) for longer before feeding when they next arrived at the nest and allowed others to feed first, thus facilitating alternation. Second, we found that the arrival of carers near the nest and their subsequent feeds were tightly synchronized, with overlapping loitering periods, allowing them to monitor the effort of other carers. Finally, we show that measures of coordination were influenced by carers arriving in a status-dependent order, with breeding females consistently arriving first and helpers last. Together, these results show how patterns of alternation and synchrony arise in long-tailed tits, and reveal the behavioural mechanisms underpinning coordination of care.

Editorial introduction: Punctuated equilibrium, multiple streams, environmental governance, and many more

Editorial introduction: Punctuated equilibrium, multiple streams, environmental governance, and many more

Measuring the Relative Utility Loss of Legitimacy Deviation: A Discussion Based on the Public Goods Experiment.

In order to understand the differences in individual behavior across different contexts, this study introduces legitimate behavior and its deviation into a utility function. We hypothesize that people have preferences for adhering to the legitimate behavior that is required by the behavioral norm embedded in a particular context; furthermore, deviating from this legitimate behavior may generate a utility loss for them. We apply our model in the context of conditional contributions in a public goods experiment; moreover, we verify that the behavioral pattern of this conditional cooperation is derived from subjects' preferences for complying with the legitimate behavior required by the norm of the conditional cooperation activated in the experimental context. Furthermore, we attempt to measure the individual-level degrees of respect for the legitimate behavior in the given context using observable experimental data. The measurement results reveal that the subjects' relative sensitivities to deviations are highly centrally distributed; additionally, most subjects have a relatively high degree of respect for the legitimate behavior required by the conditional cooperation norm. Accordingly, this paper will help to improve our understanding of the micro mechanism underlying individual behavior.

Non-Operative Management of Polytraumatized Patients: Body Imaging beyond CT

In the transition from the operative to the conservative approach for the polytraumatized patients who undergo blunt trauma, diagnostic imaging has assumed a pivotal role, currently offering various opportunities, particularly in the follow-up of these patients. The choice of the most suitable imaging method in this setting mainly depends on the injury complications we are looking for, the patient conditions (mobilization, cooperation, medications, allergies and age), the biological invasiveness, and the availability of each imaging method. Computed Tomography (CT) represents the "standard" imaging technique in the polytraumatized patient due to the high diagnostic performance when a correct imaging protocol is adopted, despite suffering from invasiveness due to radiation dose and intravenous contrast agent administration. Ultrasound (US) is a readily available technology, cheap, bedside performable and integrable with intravenous contrast agent (Contrast enhanced US-CEUS) to enhance the diagnostic performance, but it may suffer particularly from limited panoramicity and operator dependance. Magnetic Resonance (MR), until now, has been adopted in specific contexts, such as biliopancreatic injuries, but in recent experiences, it showed a great potential in the follow-up of polytraumatized patients; however, its availability may be limited in some context, and there are specific contraindications, such as as claustrophobia and the presence non-MR compatible devices. In this article, the role of each imaging method in the body-imaging follow-up of adult polytraumatized patients will be reviewed, enhancing the value of integrated imaging, as shown in several cases from our experience.

Cooperation without punishment

A fundamental question in social and biological sciences is whether self-governance is possible when individual and collective interests are in conflict. Free riding poses a major challenge to self-governance, and a prominent solution to this challenge has been altruistic punishment. However, this solution is ineffective when counter-punishments are possible and when social interactions are noisy. We set out to address these shortcomings, motivated by the fact that most people behave like conditional cooperators—individuals willing to cooperate if a critical number of others do so. In our evolutionary model, the population contains heterogeneous conditional cooperators whose decisions depend on past cooperation levels. The population plays a repeated public goods game in a moderately noisy environment where individuals can occasionally commit mistakes in their cooperative decisions and in their imitation of the role models’ strategies. We show that, under moderate levels of noise, injecting a few altruists into the population triggers positive reciprocity among conditional cooperators, thereby providing a novel mechanism to establish stable cooperation. More broadly, our findings indicate that self-governance is possible while avoiding the detrimental effects of punishment, and suggest that society should focus on creating a critical amount of trust to harness the conditional nature of its members.

Policy attributes shape climate policy support

AbstractUnderstanding how preferences for public policy instruments shape policy support helps policymakers to design policies that begin to tackle large‐scale and complex problems, such as climate change. Climate change policies generate both local and global costs and benefits, which affect the public's policy preferences. In this article we investigate the role of perceived conditional cooperation and distributive concerns on climate policy attitude formation. We identify a range of climate policies and test public opinion for adoption of these policies at different scales of government. The important theoretical distinction is the scale‐driven distributional nature of policy costs and benefits as well as concerns regarding the cooperation of other actors. We use data from Sweden and a conjoint experimental design where we vary level of government, type of policy, and the targeted group. We find evidence that people support policies when costs are shared broadly. We also find that support for climate policy is conditional on expected policy adoption by other units of government at various scales. This implies that unpopular climate policies might be more popular if the funding structure of the policy allows for binding policy and that the cost‐sharing is taking place at higher levels of government.

The Eurasianist Transformation of Turkish Foreign Policy after the Coup Attempt: An Evaluation in the Context of the SCO

In the aftermath of the coup attempt, there have been debates about a Eurasianist axis shift in Turkish Foreign Policy. The development of relations with Russia and China in parallel with the tension in relations with Western actors has given rise to these debates. The fact that the links established with these two countries do not depend on a conditional cooperation and criticism from the West on the basis of authoritarianism, together with the background of political alliances formed after the change of government system, keeps the Eurasianist discourse at the forefront. Statements on rapprochement with the SCO and even membership are integrated into pragmatism in the context of tensions with the West, regional security risks and expectations, and economic/commercial needs. The government’s continued emphasis on NATO membership, the public’s view of the EU accession, and the continued dependence on trade and investments show that the Eurasianist outlook is a pragmatism linked to conjunctural needs.