ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with alliance formation and norms of behaviour in distributed intelligent systems. An alliance is a social entity composed of intelligent agents that have made a deliberate decision to join forces to achieve alliance goals. Norms are defined as limitations on agents, such as legal constraints on individual actions. These phenomena are considered to be emergent behaviour in the context of distributed intelligent systems. Emergence is defined as the appearance of patterns of behaviour that are discernible only at higher levels of observation. Multiple levels of emergence are possible. The aim of the research is to arrive at descriptive and prescriptive theories of group behaviour.
