If we want to solve global problems, countries must learn to collaborate more and compete less. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

The

problems

governments face nowadays are often shared by other

countries

. Many regions of the world suffer from extreme weather, internet crime and large population movements. Is it better to deal with these

problems

through collaboration or

competition

? I believe that

competition

is more effective.

Firstly

, collaboration can be a very slow process.

Although

communication technology has improved greatly,

countries

that choose to collaborate still must work together across great distances using different languages. Relationships between leaders may develop slowly or even deteriorate as they negotiate across linguistic and cultural divisions. Political leaders may

therefore

lose trust in each other. The second reason for my view is that attempts to collaborate are often unsuccessful.

Countries

with different aims and values often find it hard to work together, and the need to compromise often means that solutions become less effective. International agreements on climate change,

for example

, tend to lack ambition. Any failure to agree may even damage relationships between states. But if

countries

act individually, they can act more quickly and other

countries

might

then

gain from their experience.

Lastly

, I think that people tend to work harder when they compete. In the same way that businesses innovate in response to

competition

, competing

countries

may look for innovative solutions as they try to win respect from the international community. In fact,

as a result

of

competition

, several quite different solutions may be developed, and the world may benefit from a greater range of options. In conclusion, collaboration represents a less effective process for solving

problems

than

competition

. There will always be some need to collaborate,

for example

, when resolving conflict. But if we want to solve

problems

, it’s essential that we take advantage of friendly

competition

.