State Transitions and Normative Positions within Normative Systems

Many multi-agent systems are naturally viewed as transition systems, in which the transitions between states are connected to the actions of the agents in the system. The behaviour of the individual agents can be regulated by a normative system in which norms are formulated in terms of permissible or prohibited state transitions. This report examines the set of types of such transitions, and their connection to different interpretations of the Kanger-Lindahl theory of normative positions. A refinement of Lindahl's system of one-agent types of normative positions is presented and discussed, and is put in relation to another refinement by Jones and Sergot. It is shown in the report that, based on different interpretations of the action operator Do, each of these refinements can be given an interpretation within the context of norm-regulated Dalmas (a class of transition systems regulated by conditional norms based on the theory of normative positions) and other similar systems