Raking according to importance. Parties jointly select and place the most important issues at the top of the agenda. The process is often connected with a bargaining theory that assumes that if parties can initially agree on key issues, discussions about subissues will fall into place. However, parties often do not have the same assessments regarding the importance or priorities of issues. If this is the case, this approach to agenda formation may break down. Gulliver (1979) notes that this method generally works best when parties have no claims or counterclaims against each other, no previous offense has been alleged, or negotiators are trying to establish a new relationship.