I have done a lot of thinking on the balance of cooperation and competition. When I was a Christian I reasoned that Love and competition were opposites. One being selfless, the other being selfish. This got me into arguments with teachers and preachers. At the time I had the radical and impractical view that competition was evil because God is Love (I was young, give me a break).
Now I find that human behavior is a matter of balance, just as you say. So I would think it is a viable way to analyze some of our behavior. In government, of course, we have competing ideas of how best to run things, and a general lack of cooperation that permeates every level.
I have always felt that competition, for most people, is the easy thing to learn, pretty much second nature. But cooperation is much more difficult, requiring a degree of maturity.
That's my early morning thoughts on the subject. I thought I would have more to say. Maybe later. :-k