Political Rivalry in the Light of Leigh van Halen’s Red Queen Hypothesis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12797/Politeja.21.2024.90.07Keywords:
sociobiology, political rivalry, political competitionAbstract
The Red Queen hypothesis is a popular model for analysing the phenomenon of competition in nature. It establishes mutual dependencies between competing species that stimulate their changes and adaptation processes to new conditions. The result of such competition is a self-propelling race, which allows for the evaluation of its effects, including the benefits for the participants. This dependency structure is often used to analyse interactions in social behaviour, especially the optimisation of economic competition strategies in a free market. The Red Queen model appears to be a useful tool for interpreting political competition phenomena and analysing interactions between political entities. However, there are relatively few references to its analytical applications in political science literature. The article discusses three fundamental issues related to the possibilities of political exploration of the Red Queen hypothesis. Firstly, it presents arguments justifying the use of an evolutionary interpretation for political research. Secondly, it identifies key implications arising from the perception of political competition through the prism of the discussed Leigh Van Halen model. The concepts of competition and cooperation were taken into account, with cooperation being considered a form of coopetition in the political sphere of social life. The final section identifies the key dimensions of analysis for competition among politicians, political parties, and states on the international stage.
Downloads
PlumX Metrics of this article
References
Albright J., “The Multidimensional Nature of Party Competition,” Party Politics, vol. 16, no. 6 (2010), pp. 699-719, https://doi.org/10.1177/1354068809345856.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1354068809345856
Google Scholar
Allern E.H., Hansen V.W., Marshall D., Rasmussen I.A., Webb P.D., “Competition and Interaction: Party Ties to Interest Groups in a Multidimensional Policy Space,” European Journal of Political Research, vol. 60, no. 2, pp. 275-294, https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6765.12403.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6765.12403
Google Scholar
Bartolini S., “Collusion, Competition and Democracy,” Journal of Theoretical Politics, vol. 12, no. 1 (2000), pp. 33-65, https://doi.org/10.1177/0951692800012001002.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0951692800012001002
Google Scholar
Bartolini S., “Electoral and Party Competition: Analytical Dimensions and Empirical Problems,” in R. Gunther, J.R. Montero, J.J. Linz (eds), Political Parties: Old Concepts and New Challenges, Comparative Politics, Oxford 2002, https://doi.org/10.1093/0199246742.003.0004.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/0199246742.003.0004
Google Scholar
Bengtsson M., Kock S., “‘Coopetition’ in Business Networks – to Cooperate and Compete Simultaneously,” Industrial Marketing Management, vol. 29, no. 5 (2000), pp. 411-426, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0019-8501(99)00067-X.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0019-8501(99)00067-X
Google Scholar
Carmichael T., Hadzikadic M., “Predator-Prey Dynamics and the Red Queen Hypothesis: Putting Limits on the Evolutionary Arms Race,” Journal on Policy and Complex Systems, vol. 2, no. 1 (2015), pp. 1-8, https://doi.org/10.18278/jpcs.2.1.7.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.18278/jpcs.2.1.7
Google Scholar
Chattoe E., “Using Evolutionary Analogies in Social Science: Two Case Studies,” in A. Wimmer,
Google Scholar
R. Kössler (eds), Understanding Change, London 2006, https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230524644_7.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230524644_7
Google Scholar
Corning P.A., Holistic Darwinism: Synergy, Cybernetics, and the Bioeconomics of Evolution, Chicago 2005, https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226116334.001.0001.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226116334.001.0001
Google Scholar
Cox G.W., Making Votes Count: Strategic Coordination in the World’s Electoral Systems, Cambridge 1997, https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139174954.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139174954
Google Scholar
Crisci J.V., “Parsimony in Evolutionary Theory: Law or Methodological Prescription?,” Journalof Theoretical Biology, vol. 97, no. 1 (1982),
Google Scholar
pp. 35-41, https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-5193(82)90274-0.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-5193(82)90274-0
Google Scholar
Derfus P.J., Maggitti P.G., Grimm C.M., Smith K.G., “The Red Queen Effect: Competitive Actions and Firm Performance,” The Academy of Management Journal, vol. 51, no. 1 (2008), pp. 61-80, https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2008.30708624.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2008.30708624
Google Scholar
Grossmann M., Hopkins D.A., Asymmetric Politics: Ideological Republicans and Group Interest Democrats, New York 2016, https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190626594.001.0001.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190626594.001.0001
Google Scholar
Jokela J., Dybdahl M.F., Lively C.M., Otto S.P., “The Maintenance of Sex, Clonal Dynamics, and Host-Parasite Coevolution in a Mixed Population of Sexual and Asexual Snails,” The American Naturalist, vol. 174 (2009), pp. 43-53, https://doi.org/10.1086/599080.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/599080
Google Scholar
Joop G., Vilcinskas A., “Coevolution of Parasitic Fungi and Insect Hosts,” Zoology, vol. 119, nr 4 (2016), pp. 350-358, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.zool.2016.06.005.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.zool.2016.06.005
Google Scholar
Karnowski M., Mistewicz E., Anatomia władzy, Warszawa 2010.
Google Scholar
Lado A.A., Boyd N.G., Hanlon S.C., “Competition, Cooperation, and the Search for Economic Rents: A Syncretic Model,” Academy of Management Review, vol. 22, no. 1 (1997), pp. 110-141, https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.1997.9707180261.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.1997.9707180261
Google Scholar
Lagadec G., “The Road to Re-Election: Incumbency, Wear and Tear of Power and New Tactics,” Theoretical Economics Letters, vol. 12, no. 5 (2022), pp. 1452-1471, https://doi.org/10.4236/tel.2022.125079.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4236/tel.2022.125079
Google Scholar
Lumsden C.J., Wilson E.O., Genes, Mind, and Culture: The Coevolutionary Process: 25th Anniversary Edition, Cambridge 2005, https://doi.org/10.1142/9789812775238.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1142/9789812775238
Google Scholar
Luo Y., “A Coopetition Perspective of Global Competition,” Journal of World Business, vol. 42, no. 2 (2007), pp. 129-144, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2006.08.007.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2006.08.007
Google Scholar
Lustick I.S., “Taking Evolution Seriously: Historical Institutionalism and Evolutionary Theory,” Polity, vol. 43, no. 2 (2011), pp. 186-191, https://doi.org/10.1057/pol.2010.26.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/pol.2010.26
Google Scholar
Madej M., Drałus D., Wichłacz M., “Social Movements and Political Parties: Cooperation and Conflict,” Athenaeum: Polish Political Science Studies, vol. 80, no. 4 (2023), pp. 95-116.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15804/athena.2023.80.06
Google Scholar
Masters R.D., “Biology and Politics: Linking Nature and Nurture, Annual Review of Political Science, vol. 4 (2001), pp. 345-369, https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.polisci.4.1.345.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.polisci.4.1.345
Google Scholar
Muirhead R., Rosenblum N.L., “The Political Theory of Parties and Partisanship: Catching Up,” Annual Review of Political Science, vol. 23 (2020), pp. 95-110, https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-041916-020727.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-041916-020727
Google Scholar
Negatu S.G., Arreguin M.C., Jurado K.A., Vazquez C., “Being the Alice of Academia: Lessons from the Red Queen Hypothesis,” Pathogens and Disease, vol. 80, no. 1 (2022), pp. 1-6, https://doi.org/10.1093/femspd/ftac034.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/femspd/ftac034
Google Scholar
Nocoń J., “Interpretacja funkcji w socjobiologicznych koncepcjach polityki,” Teoria Polityki, nr 4 (2020), pp. 183-195, https://doi.org/10.4467/25440845TP.19.023.11789.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4467/25440845TP.19.023.11789
Google Scholar
Nocoń J., Laska A., Teoria polityki. Wprowadzenie, Warszawa 2010.
Google Scholar
Nocoń J., “Premises for the Politological Exploration of Sociobiology,” Teoria Polityki, nr 5 (2021), pp. 23-35, https://doi.org/10.4467/25440845TP.21.003.13783.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4467/25440845TP.21.003.13783
Google Scholar
Paola M. De, Scoppa V., “Political Competition and Politician Quality: Evidence from Italian Municipalities,” Public Choice, vol. 148 (2011), pp. 547-559, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-010-9683-9.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-010-9683-9
Google Scholar
Robson A.J., “Complex Evolutionary Systems and the Red Queen,” The Economic Journal, vol. 115, no. 504 (2005), pp. 211-224, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0297.2005.01002.x.Ruse M., Sociobiology: Sense or Nonsense?, Boston 1985.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0297.2005.01002.x
Google Scholar
Sanderson S.K., Evolutionism and Its Critics: Deconstructing and Reconstructing an Evolutionary Interpretation of Human Society, London 2007.
Google Scholar
Segerstråle U.C., Defenders of the Truth: The Battle for Science in the Sociobiology Debate and Beyond, Oxford 2000.
Google Scholar
Skarzyński R., Mobilizacja polityczna. Współpraca i rywalizacja człowieka współczesnego w wielkiej przestrzeni i długim czasie, Warszawa 2011.
Google Scholar
Solé R., “Revisiting Leigh Van Valen’s ‘A New Evolutionary Law’ (1973),” Biological Theory, vol. 17 (2022), pp. 120-125.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13752-021-00391-w
Google Scholar
Thompson W.R., “Identifying Rivals and Rivalries in World Politics,” International Studies Quarterly, vol. 45, no. 4 (2001), pp. 557-586, https://doi.org/10.1111/0020-8833.00214.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/0020-8833.00214
Google Scholar
Vaaler P.M., McNamara G., “Electoral and Market Rivalry in Developing Country Sovereign Risk Assessment,” Academy of Management Proceedings, vol. 1 (2008), pp. 1-39, https://doi.org/10.5465/ambpp.2008.33641702.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5465/ambpp.2008.33641702
Google Scholar
Wouters A.G., Biology’s Functional Perspective Roles, Advantages and Organization, in K. Kampourakis (ed.), The Philosophy of Biology: A Companion for Educators, New York 2013, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6537-5_21.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6537-5_21
Google Scholar
Żukowski A., “Kierunki ewolucji polskiego systemu wyborczego a interesy partii politycznych,” in K. Kowalczyk, Ł. Tomczak (eds), Partie i system partyjny RP. Stan i perspektywy, Toruń 2007.
Google Scholar
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.