Editing Game theory (section)

===Cooperative / non-cooperative===
{{main|Cooperative game theory|Non-cooperative game}}
A game is ''cooperative'' if the players are able to form binding commitments externally enforced (e.g. through [[contract law]]). A game is ''non-cooperative'' if players cannot form alliances or if all agreements need to be [[self-enforcing agreement|self-enforcing]] (e.g. through [[credible threat]]s).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gametheory.net/dictionary/Non-CooperativeGame.html |title=Non-Cooperative Game |last=Shor |first=Mike |website=GameTheory.net |access-date=2016-09-15 |archive-date=1 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140401211601/http://www.gametheory.net/Dictionary/Non-CooperativeGame.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Cooperative games are often analyzed through the framework of ''cooperative game theory'', which focuses on predicting which coalitions will form, the joint actions that groups take, and the resulting collective payoffs. It is different from ''non-cooperative game theory'' which focuses on predicting individual players' actions and payoffs by analyzing [[Nash equilibria]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.utdallas.edu/~chandra/documents/6311/coopgames.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160418101712/http://www.utdallas.edu/~chandra/documents/6311/coopgames.pdf |archive-date=2016-04-18 |url-status=live |title=Cooperative Game Theory |last=Chandrasekaran |first=Ramaswamy |publisher=University of Texas at Dallas}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Brandenburger|first=Adam|title=Cooperative Game Theory: Characteristic Functions, Allocations, Marginal Contribution|url=http://www.uib.cat/depart/deeweb/pdi/hdeelbm0/arxius_decisions_and_games/cooperative_game_theory-brandenburger.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170829084624/http://www.uib.cat/depart/deeweb/pdi/hdeelbm0/arxius_decisions_and_games/cooperative_game_theory-brandenburger.pdf|archive-date=29 August 2017|access-date=14 April 2020}}</ref>

Cooperative game theory provides a high-level approach as it describes only the structure and payoffs of coalitions, whereas non-cooperative game theory also looks at how strategic interaction will affect the distribution of payoffs. As non-cooperative game theory is more general, cooperative games can be analyzed through the approach of non-cooperative game theory (the converse does not hold) provided that sufficient assumptions are made to encompass all the possible strategies available to players due to the possibility of external enforcement of cooperation.