states should also favor hard legalization when they can be con dent that agreements will
track their preferences, for legal procedures will allow them to implement those
preferences efficiently and at low political cost. This suggests that powerful states
have a signi cant and often overlooked stake in hard legalization. And states that
seek to minimize political conflict in relations with other states or in particular issue areas
should favor hard legalization, for it sublimates such con ict into legal argumen