How Do We Decide? The Patterns of Interaction

Abstract

The ways in which the actors exchange their resources are absolutely crucial for defining the outcome of the decisional processes. In this chapter, after discussing the role of legal procedures in policy making, we will show the importance of communication between the actors (by discussing the prisoner dilemma) and of the fact that the moves of the actors are simultaneous or rather sequential (by discussing the “battle of the sexes”). We conclude by recalling the literature on policy “styles” and by proposing a classification of the patterns of interaction that distinguishes between confrontation (when the resources are weighted), bargaining (when the resources are exchanged) and collaboration (when the resources are pooled).