Limits emerge through tacit jockeying and need unique focal qualities.

Evidence

The need for qualitatively distinguishable limits that enjoy some kind of uniqueness is especially enhanced by the fact that limits are generally found by a process of tacit maneuver and negotiation. They are jockeyed for, rather than negotiated explicitly. But if the two sides must strike a “bargain” without explicit communication, the particular limit has to have some quality that distinguishes it from the continuum of possible alternatives; otherwise there is little basis for the confidence of each side that the other acknowledges the same limit. Even a parallel of latitude, or an international date line, or the north pole, may have this quality when no other natural, plausible, “obvious” point or line is available for expectations to converge on. — Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, 600

Categorization

• XREF: Directly parallels how Bonasera’s favor and the Godfather’s threat must be mutually recognizable terms — no explicit contract, so they need salient symbolic points. Maps onto private arbitration with no written law. — connects to: Simple discrete salient limits enable coordinated expectations. — Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, 602; Tacit limits require qualitative boundaries amenable to complete abstention — Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, 194; Strategic moves work by constraining one’s own behavior to shape an opponent’s expectations. — Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, 361 (+1 more)
• SEED: An essay angle: tacit coordination in mafia patronage vs. nuclear limits — both rely on focal points that raw law cannot specify.

Related

• Simple discrete salient limits enable coordinated expectations. (similarity 0.85)
• Tacit limits require qualitative boundaries amenable to complete abstention (similarity 0.85)
• Restrained competition everywhere favors discrete qualitative over graded limits (similarity 0.79)
• Tacit-bargaining theory guides where to seek terms, not their probability (similarity 0.79)
• Tacit agreements need qualitatively distinct terms that may discriminate against one party (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Simple discrete salient limits enable coordinated expectations. #corroborates (0.85) — Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, 602
• Tacit limits require qualitative boundaries amenable to complete abstention #expands (0.78) — Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, 194
• Strategic moves work by constraining one’s own behavior to shape an opponent’s expectations. #qualifies (0.75) — Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, 361