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HANDBOOK OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 380 parties face unequal alternatives to agreement, the one with the better alternative has an advantage, and normally they press this advantage. In some cases, the other party accepts an agreement that leaves him worse off than before, a win-lose agreement, because under the circumstances, refusing would make the situation even worse. Coercion and influence are matters of degree and both are present to some degree in virtually every encounter of cooperation and conflict. Many negotiations involve both efforts to create joint gain and efforts to claim value from other parties, and the distribution of these efforts in a particular case is a matter for investigation.

Later propositions refer to the individual negotiator. This simplification is not meant to imply that she is always free from influence from the organization, culture, state, and coalition she represents. I assume that …