Cooperation has increased as history has progressed, but that does not negate the antagonism and discord that has existed for millennia

The world has become increasingly globalised, especially in the last century, meaning that cooperation with other nations and cultures has become not only more common, but necessary. However, to act as if the world's trajectory has only ever been one of mutual understanding and trust is a gross misreading of the atrocities of history.

• It has been argued that globalisation both strengthens and weakens humans' motivations to cooperate, with one side preferring reactionary movements and an attitude of protecting one's own "kind", and the other suggesting that allegiances to ethnicity, locality and nationhood are weakened as they are less relevant in a globalist society
• Cooperation throughout history has often stemmed from a place of conflict, such as allies in war - while forces such as the Allies in the Second World War united, it was only to combat an enemy, the Axis powers
• The world's current globalised environment is, in part, due to the imperialism of the past - while the world is now more cooperative than it was then, it was originally inspired by a combative approach