The Achilles’ Heel of Competitive/Adversarial Systems

In the modern world, competitive and adversarial systems are omnipresent. The real economy and our financial markets are based on competition: firms and banks are competing over customers, investors and employees. The exercise of political power is based on competition among political parties for votes and campaign contributions. Internationally, states compete for military and economic power as supported by access to natural resources, advanced technologies and the most talented people. The interpretation and application of rules is settled by courts that function as adversarial systems driven by two parties seeking to make their own proposed application of the rules seem compelling and to discredit their opponent’s proposal. There is fierce competition among the media over stories, advertisers and consumers — and similarly dogged competition among non-governmental organisations (NGOs) over donations and success stories. And in the academy, as well, there is competition over teachers and researchers, students, donations and the rewards of success such as grants, prizes and media recognition. Organised competition is pervasive in modern life.