In the logic of collective action, small groups are often expected to succeed even though very large groups cannot. The principal reason for their success is that the dyadic relationships between each pair of group members play a large role in motivating cooperative action. Hence trust relationships can enable us to cooperate beyond the dyadic level to some extent even though such relationships and their effects must run out for interactions within very larger groups.

XREF: Connects to game theory and the free-rider problem in collective action literature (Olson). The dyadic trust mechanism is a novel micro-foundation.

Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, loc. 814