Conclusion: Lessons for Theory and Practice

Abstract

In this chapter, the editors bring together insights from the individual chapters, to draw a number of lessons regarding the role(s) of focal points in negotiations. Focality can be used to gain a strategic advantage during the negotiation process, either by starting a dynamic that favors one’s own cause, or to block any such dynamics from getting off the ground if they are deemed detrimental to one’s interests. Focal points do more than serve such tactical purposes, however. They can also have an important function in effectively communicating the outcome of negotiations to the wider public and even serve distinctly moral purposes, contributing to the emergence of fair solutions to situations characterized by reasonable moral disagreement.