TOWARD AN AUGMENTED THEORY OF COOPERATIVE BEHAVIOR: THE CASE OF CLUSTERING IN ANIMAL AGRICULTURE

An augmented theory of cooperative behavior is presented. This game-theoretic model details two obstacles to cooperation which often arise when stakeholders are negotiating local land-use conflicts. First, protracted involvement from outsiders can deter long-run cooperation. Second, if stakeholders fail to frame the expected pay-offs from cooperating similarly -- both their ethical stances and their choices of language -- then their likelihood of successful cooperation is reduced. Case studies of communities divided about whether and where to site livestock facilities in the rural-urban fringe (clustering) are invoked to demonstrate how deadlock can occur, even where long-term collaboration would appear more cost-effective than ongoing conflict between neighbors