The nested game of the Argentinian constitutional reform

Abstract

The article tries to explain the dynamics of the negotiation process that ended in the constitutional reform of 1994 in Argentina. The authors focus specially on the period that led to the Olivos Pact and the sanction of the law that call in 1993 a Constituent assembly for the following year. Why did the Unión Cívica Radical and the Partido Justicialista reach an agreement during this process, which could be seen as a sub-optimum outcome; and not looking for their a priori dominant strategy: resisting the reform or promoting it at all costs, respectively? Seen as a “nested game”, the process does not look like a sub-optimum outcome, on the contrary it was a game played simultaneously on three arenas. From this perspective, the article discusses the wellknown thesis that points the reform process as a typical “chicken game”.