The phenomenon of collective action and the origin of collective action problems have been extensively and systematically studied in the social sciences. Yet, while we have substantial knowledge about the factors promoting collective action at the local level, we know far less about how these insights travel to large-scale collective action problems. Such problems, however, are at the heart of humanity’s most pressing challenges, including climate change, large-scale natural resource depletion, biodiversity loss, nuclear proliferation, antibiotic resistance due to overconsumption of antibiotics, and pollution. In this paper, we suggest an analytical framework that captures the theoretical understanding of preconditions for large-scale collective action. This analytical framework aims at supporting future empirical analyses of how to cope with and overcome larger-scale collective action problems. More specifically, we (i) define and describe the main characteristics of a large-scale collective action problem and (ii) explain why voluntary and, in particular, spontaneous large-scale collective action among individual actors becomes more improbable as the collective action problem becomes larger, thus demanding interventions by an external authority (a third party) for such action to be generated. Based on this, we (iii) outline an analytical framework that illustrates the connection between third-party interventions and large-scale collective action. We conclude by suggesting avenues for future research.

中文翻译：

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在大规模集体行动的前提下。

在社会科学中，对集体行动的现象和集体行动问题的根源进行了广泛而系统的研究。但是，尽管我们对促进地方一级的集体行动的因素有丰富的知识，但对这些见解如何传播到大规模集体行动问题的了解却少得多。但是，这些问题是人类面临的最紧迫挑战的核心，其中包括气候变化，大规模自然资源耗竭，生物多样性丧失，核扩散，由于抗生素过度消费引起的抗生素耐药性以及污染。在本文中，我们提出了一个分析框架，该框架可以捕捉对大规模集体行动的前提条件的理论理解。该分析框架旨在支持有关如何应对和克服大规模集体行动问题的未来实证分析。更具体地说，我们（i）定义和描述了大规模集体行动问题的主要特征，并且（ii）解释了为什么自愿采取行动，尤其是随着集体行动问题的扩大，个体参与者之间自发的大规模集体行动变得更加不可能，因此要求外部机构（第三方）进行干预以产生此类行动。基于此，我们（iii）概述了一个分析框架，该框架说明了第三方干预与大规模集体行动之间的联系。最后，我们为将来的研究提出了建议。