Cognitive and behavioural studies are making inroads into international law, international policy, and literature. Firstly, international practice is drawing increasingly on behavioural studies. The United Nations (UN) and its agencies have turned to behavioural science to confront new challenges faced by the international community, including the Sustainable Development Goals, climate change, and gender equality. Similarly, the World Bank and World Health Organization have created teams of experts to advise on the incorporation of behavioural insights to support their operations. Other international organizations are likewise following suit. Secondly, the cognitive-behavioural turn is generating innovative research work in disciplines neighbouring international law and is gaining similar traction in international legal scholarship. Yet, despite this, the implications of cognitive-behavioural studies for international legal theory remain under-explored. With few exceptions, international legal theories have long failed to explicitly address the cognitive-behavioural assumptions of their respective theoretical approaches. To fill this gap, this book systematically examines the impact of the cognitive-behavioural turn on the main theoretical schools within international legal scholarship. Across thirteen chapters, the contributors uncover the cognitive bases of their respective theories, exploring both the cognitive similarities underlying the assumptions of different theories of international law, as well as the limitations of the use of behavioural science in international law theories. International Legal Theory and the Cognitive Turn makes explicit the relationship between cognitive-behavioral methodologies and other ways of thinking about international law, including TWAIL, feminist, and legal realist approaches, and more. This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read on Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.

About the Author
Anne van Aaken is the Chair for Law and Economics, Legal Theory, Public International Law, and European Law at the University of Hamburg, and Co-Director of the Institute of Law and Economics. Previously, she was the Alexander von Humboldt Professor at the University of Hamburg, a Professor at St. Gallen University, and a Senior Researcher at two Max Planck Institutes. Anne also served as Vice-President of the European Society of International Law (ESIL) and chaired the Research Council at the European University Institute (EUI). She has consulted for several organisations including the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the United Nations. And she has served as General Editor of the Journal of International Dispute Settlement and on the editorial boards of several prestigious journals, including the American Journal of International Law. Her research focuses on legal theory, international law, and behavioural approaches to law. Moshe Hirsch is the Emilio Von Hofmannsthal Professor of Law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Co-Director of the International Law Forum at the Hebrew University Law Faculty. A significant part of his publications involves theoretical and interdisciplinary research that draws, inter alia, on sociological theories, cognitive studies, political economy, game theory, and international relations theory. His recent publications include Invitation to the Sociology of International Law (OUP, 2015), Research Handbook on the Sociology of International Law (Edward Elgar, 2018, co-edited with Andrew Lang), and International Law's Invisible Frames: Social Cognition and Knowledge Production in International Legal Processes (OUP, 2021, co-edited with Andrea Bianchi).


Book Information
ISBN 9780198909262
Author Anne van Aaken
Format Hardback
Page Count 352
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 678g
Dimensions(mm) 241mm * 165mm * 27mm