ABSTRACT
This chapter develops the conceptual framework of the book. It sets out an approach that recognizes that strategic actors may negotiate in a context of multiple and overlapping subjective games. Building on existing literature, the chapter argues that the social contingency of the rules of the game cannot be easily accommodated in a conventional game-theoretical model, even if the assumption about common prior beliefs is weakened. Constructivist approaches, on the other hand, tend to overlook that the potentially ambiguous or contested nature of the social context itself may complicate bargaining processes. The remainder of the chapter is dedicated to presenting a new conceptual framework to make sense of bargaining in contexts of subjectively different games.
