Norm Contextualization

Agents interact with each other regulating by a set of norms which is expressed at different levels of abstraction that capture different contexts and operationalizations. Current normative frameworks deal with norm operationalization, yet few consider the contextual aspects of norms. Moreover, most frameworks are based on the independent evaluations of norms, which makes it difficult to evaluate interrelated effects of different norms and contexts. In this paper, we propose Norm Nets as a formalism to capture the structure of contextualized norm sets. This formalism will enable (1) the analysis of interrelations between norms, (2) the contextualization of normative statements, and (3) the verification of properties of interrelated norms. We apply this framework to a case study taken from the domain of international trade.

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