Collective Action Dilemmas

Each individual in any given group may has common good or group goal, also has conflicting interests, as known as Collective Action Dilemmas. It has been recognized long time that individuals often fail to achieved the group goal when work together, one main reason is people are rational. In the state of nation and society, public interests may conflict personal interest, the government as central agent seen as a great mean to solve the problem. For example, all the modern citizens expect great benefits governments provide, such as a highway system, or free elementary education; but for the tax, didn’t see anyone paid with happiness, but always think been over paid.

The dilemma of collective actions is an objectively existing social phenomenon. Western scholars create theoretical models about dilemma of collective actions and provide theoretical interpretations according to the reflections to the real world. “These collective actions will be problems such as short supply of public goods, overuse of public resource, disorder of public order, loss of public organization efficiency and anomie of public policy implementation.” (Chen tan, 2009, Theoretical Interpretation … under Non-cooperation Game)

The decision-making model not as simple as selfish or self-interest, it’s the “theory of human choice based on scientific principles of observation and experiment”, but not “postulation and deduction” (page 397). Observation reflects it has been learned or acknowledged from patient look or research about the cause and effect, experiment means it has been thought, be consider the pros and cons. Even though it might not be think over and think through, it must be different than “creating something out of nothing”. There are four princi...

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...blic affairs, it’s public, statutory, enforceable, mandatory, dynamic, and expansion. The fundamental purpose is to provide all social groups, universal, equitable, high quality public services; government, as the implementation and enforcement of the national willing with its authorities, whose functions are clearly enforceable; government function is always changing, depending on the government and the public needs; also with the diversified, complex public demands, the government assumed more and more functions, and gradually extended to all level of society.

In conclusion, collective dilemmas happens everywhere, therefore, the government as “third party” has the advantage to solve public problem and issue. The main reason result to collective dilemmas is the bounded rationality, which claim people are rational, goal-oriented which leads cooperative problem.