Yeah i think that was the thesis put forward in Guns Germs and Steel, which basically said the Europeans got ahead of everybody due to their competitiveness. I would agree with that for the most part. I dislike tribalism though, trust me live in the Middle East for a bit (or look at the Caucausus as well) and you see how nausiatingly frustrating it becomes, before you're very eyes intelligent people turn into brain dead morons who get angry and upset at the slightest criticism of their tribe (i mean this in the metaphoric sense) and become blind to simple facts. I cannot tell you the amount of racism and biggotry that stems from it. For anybody with the remotest inkling of care for his fellow man I would say that tribalism in the 21st century represents only the worst of mankind.
Not many people do like tribalism, who in their right mind would? That's not to say tribalism has resulted in considerable human advancements.
Racism and bigotry too are key variables in advancement. Within natural selection it is pretty much the defining factor in the creation of species. Human races are a result of divergence in populations, eventually (given enough time) if globalisation etc. didn't occur nergoids, cacausoids and mongoloids would become distinct species incapable of producing fertile offspring - from a survival standpoint it make sense to look after "your own" for they share more genes in common - and it is the genes themselves that wish to be carried on into the next generation.
As far as I am concerned, remove the competitiveness of tribalism (racism, nationalism [inc. national pride / patriotism]) and we will stagnate as a species. Tribalism represents nature, it's not a human creation.
Personally I have a huge grievance with modern socialist welfare states that allow the lesser equiped to breed and have as much a guaranteed survival as those equiped best. I'd probably be open to the idea of enforcing something that would make it extremely difficult for those lesser equiped to procreate so freely based on the generosity of the collective. One day I'm certain such a mechanism will be in place, otherwise over population will be the end of us as a species and maybe the rest of the world.