The title is misleading. It's not whether to cooperate or to defect, but how to cooperate or to defect. There are many ways in which individuals or groups can cooperate or defect with each other. This list of books describes why there is a choice to either cooperate or defect, and the how to go about it.
The Basic Premise
- The Evolution of Cooperation by Robert Axelrod
- Fight Club Politics: How Partisanship Is Poisoning the U.S. House of Representatives by Juliet Eilperin
- Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action by Elinor Ostrom
- Individualism and Economic Order by Friedrich A. Hayek
- Inquisition by Edward Peters
- Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason, and the Gap Between Us and Them by Joshua D. Greene
- On Liberty by John Stuart Mill
- Political Tribes: Group Instinct and the Fate of Nations by Amy Chua
- Race And Culture: A World View by Thomas Sowell
- Rule Makers, Rule Breakers: Tight and Loose Cultures and the Secret Signals that Direct Our Lives by Michele Gelfand
- The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki
The How
- Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World by Nicholas Ostler
- Hot Buttons: How to Resolve Conflict and Cool Everyone Down by Sybil Evans, Sherry Suib Cohen
- Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini
- Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics by Joseph S. Nye
Cooperation
- Development and Connection in the Time of COVID-19: Corona’s Call for Conscious Choices by Cornelia C. Walther
Defection
- Boss Tweed: The Corrupt Pol Who Conceived the Soul of Modern New York by Kenneth D. Ackerman
- Globalization and Its Discontents Revisited: Anti-Globalization in the Era of Trump by Joseph E. Stiglitz
- In Defense of Troublemakers: The Power of Dissent in Life and Business by Charlan Jeanne Nemeth
- Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin
