Swarm Leadership and the Collective Mind by Gloor Peter A.;

Author:Gloor, Peter A.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
Published: 2017-04-11T16:00:00+00:00

7.5. THE “DARK SIDE” OF COLLABORATION: COLLABORATIVE COMPETITION

Right after midnight of June 16, 1940, Marshal Pétain of France made his first broadcast to the French population, announcing sweeping collaboration with the German invaders of France. He went on to form the infamous Vichy puppet government, which collaborated with Nazi Germany all through the Second World War, until the Allied invasion in the Normandy led to the liberation of France. During the Vichy government the French republican motto “Liberté, égalité, fraternité” was replaced with “Work, family, fatherland” (Travail, famille, patrie). This switch in core values from egalitarian principles to ingroup-focused values, which stress “us against them,” is typical for the dark side of collaboration. Within the group, there is collaboration, but the goal is to beat “them,” “them” being the outside world.

Sometimes, even the most aggressive competitors collaborate — or conspire, to exploit their communities and customers. For instance, in 2013 currency traders at different banks conspired3 to fix the exchange rate to increase their own profits. They had set up a cozy club in an Internet chat room where they were countertrading on large orders to buy foreign currency in the 60 seconds window before the trades were confirmed. This behavior is similar to a group of wolves that work far more efficiently when hunting in a pack. But similar to a wolfpack, collaborative competitors are in for the kill. Or in other words, they collaborate to compete more efficiently.

The same happens in its most extreme form in countries like North Korea, where the elites conspire to suppress their compatriots. In a pyramid of terror, the layer above suppresses the layer below for their own profit, playing to the human tendency of stratification and the desire to belong to a special, select group. In the case of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, as an absolutist despotic ruler, through a mix of terror and entitlements, he puts the group of generals right below him into a position of power toward the next lower layer. Reigning supremely, he punishes and kills as quickly as he rewards. If the defense minister falls asleep at an event presided over by Kim Jong-un, he is swiftly executed by a battery of anti-aircraft guns. By establishing a delicate balance of collaborative competition, Kim Jong-un succeeds in clinging to power. He is still on the same level as Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, who unified China in 221 BC applying similar tactics. Qin Shi Huang not only had a terracotta army produced to serve him in afterlife, but also had the books of scholars who disagreed with him burned and them buried alive. Similar to Kim Jong-un, he had the habit of killing everybody objecting to his wishes including their family to the third degree.

The history of Europe up to the Second World War is a history of collaborative competition. In ever-changing alliances, the French, Spanish, Bavarian, Prussian, Habsburg, British, Scottish, Flemish, and many other major and minor kings, dukes, and princes realigned and collaborated to compete for supremacy in Europe.

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