Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-9pm4c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-28T11:41:00.423Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Enhanced cooperation increases the capacity for conflict

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2024

Rose McDermott*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA Rose_McDermott@Brown.edu https://watson.brown.edu/people/faculty/mcdermott
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

Enhanced cooperation increases the capacity for humans to engage in large-scale warfare. This ability provides the foundation for male coalitionary behavior, leaving open the question of whether cooperation evolved in the same way, or for the same purpose, in females. Such coalitionary behavior entrains hierarchical forms of leadership that remain inherently unstable, providing a spark for conflict to emerge.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Hudson, V. M., Bowen, D. L., & Nielsen, P. L. (2015). Clan governance and state stability: The relationship between female subordination and political order. American Political Science Review, 109(3), 535555.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hudson, V. M., Caprioli, M., McDermott, R., & Bowen, D. L. (2023). Sex and world peace (2nd ed.). Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Lopez, A. C. (2017). The evolutionary psychology of war: Offense and defense in the adapted mind. Evolutionary Psychology, 15(4), 1474704917742720.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McDermott, R. (2015). Sex and death: Gender differences in aggression and motivations for violence. International Organization, 69(3), 753775.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wrangham, R. W. (1999). Evolution of coalitionary killing. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 110(S29), 130.3.0.CO;2-E>CrossRefGoogle Scholar