Moshe Hirsch – författare

What is international law, and how does it work? This book argues that our answers to these fundamental questions are shaped by a variety of social cognition and knowledge production processes. These processes act as invisible frames, through which we understand international law. To better conceive the frames within which international law moves and performs, we must understand how psychological and socio-cultural factors affect decision-making in an international legal process. This includes identifying the groups of people and institutions that shape and alter the prevailing discourse in international law, and unearthing the hidden meaning of the various mythologies that populate and influence our normative world. With chapters from leading experts in the discipline, employing insights from sociology, psychology, and behavioural science, this book investigates the mechanisms that allow us to apprehend and intellectually represent the social practice of international law. It unveils the hidden or unnoticed processes by which our understanding of international law is formed, and helps readers to unlearn some of the presuppositions that inform our largely unquestioned beliefs about international law.

Invitation to the Sociology of International Law aims to cast light on the under-explored sociological dimension of international law. The book emphasizes that international legal rules are profoundly embedded in diverse social factors and processes, such as norms, identity, and collective memory. Thus, international law often reflects and affects societal factors and processes in state societies and in the international community. The book exposes some central tenets of the sociological perspective and its core theoretical approaches, and presents a sociological analysis of several significant topics in present-day international law.The volume surveys subjects such as compliance, international economic law, legal fragmentation, law-making, and the impartiality of adjudicators, and reveals that a sociological analysis of international law enriches our understanding of social factors involved in the formation, evolution, and implementation of the law. Such analysis may not only explain past and present trends in international law but also bears significant implications for the interpretation of existing legal provisions, as well as suggesting better legal mechanisms for coping with contemporary challenges.In light of the underlying interrelationships between international law and other social factors, this book invites international law specialists to analyse international legal rules in their wider social context and to incorporate sociological tools into mainstream international law scholarship.

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.

Invitation to the Sociology of International Law aims to cast light on the under-explored sociological dimension of international law. The book emphasizes that international legal rules are profoundly embedded in diverse social factors and processes, such as norms, identity, and collective memory. Thus, international law often reflects and affects societal factors and processes in state societies and in the international community. The book exposes some central tenets of the sociological perspective and its core theoretical approaches, and presents a sociological analysis of several significant topics in present-day international law.The volume surveys subjects such as compliance, international economic law, legal fragmentation, law-making, and the impartiality of adjudicators, and reveals that a sociological analysis of international law enriches our understanding of social factors involved in the formation, evolution, and implementation of the law. Such analysis may not only explain past and present trends in international law but also bears significant implications for the interpretation of existing legal provisions, as well as suggesting better legal mechanisms for coping with contemporary challenges.In light of the underlying interrelationships between international law and other social factors, this book invites international law specialists to analyse international legal rules in their wider social context and to incorporate sociological tools into mainstream international law scholarship.

This 2004 book aims at advancing our understanding of the influences international norms and international institutions have over the incentives of states to cooperate on issues such as environment and trade. Contributors adopt two different approaches in examining this question. One approach focuses on the constitutive elements of the international legal order, including customary international law, soft law and framework conventions, and on the types of incentives states have, such as domestic incentives and reputation. The other approach examines specific issues in the areas of international environment protection and international trade. The combined outcome of these two approaches is an understanding of the forces that pull states toward closer cooperation or prevent them from doing so, and the impact of different types of international norms and diverse institutions on the motivation of states. The insights gained suggest ways for enhancing states' incentives to cooperate through the design of norms and institutions.

This 2004 book aims at advancing our understanding of the influences international norms and international institutions have over the incentives of states to cooperate on issues such as environment and trade. Contributors adopt two different approaches in examining this question. One approach focuses on the constitutive elements of the international legal order, including customary international law, soft law and framework conventions, and on the types of incentives states have, such as domestic incentives and reputation. The other approach examines specific issues in the areas of international environment protection and international trade. The combined outcome of these two approaches is an understanding of the forces that pull states toward closer cooperation or prevent them from doing so, and the impact of different types of international norms and diverse institutions on the motivation of states. The insights gained suggest ways for enhancing states' incentives to cooperate through the design of norms and institutions.

Over the last twenty years, India has enacted legislation to turn crucial goals such as food security, primary education, and employment into legal rights for its citizens. But enacting laws is one thing and implementing them through an imperfect institutional structure is another. A Human Rights Based Approach to Development in India examines a diverse range of human development issues over a period of rapid economic growth in India. Demonstrating why institutional and economic development are synonymous, the essays in this volume detail the many obstacles that may hinder development. In addition, they show how the domestic policies required to implement laws may undermine India's treaty obligations at the World Trade Organization or under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. The contributors ultimately ask whether development can be achieved by making it a legal right and whether India's right to develop is truly at odds with its international commitments.

This innovative Research Handbook explores recent developments at the intersection of international law, sociology and social theory. In doing so, it highlights anew the potential contribution of sociological methods and theories to the study of international law, and illustrates their use in the examination of contemporary problems of practical interest to international lawyers.The diverse body of expert contributors discuss a wide range of methodologies and approaches - including those inspired by the giants of twentieth century social thought, as well as emergent strands such as computational linguistics, performance theory and economic sociology. With chapters exploring topical areas including the globalization of law, economic globalization, property rights, global governance, international legal counsel, social networks, and anthropology, the Research Handbook presents a number of paths for future research in international legal scholarship.Full of original insight, this interdisciplinary Research Handbook will be essential reading for academics and scholars in international law and sociology, as well as postgraduate students. Lawyers practicing in international law will also find this a stimulating read.Contributors include: W. Alschner, F.M. Bohnenberger, R. Buchanan, K. Byers, S. Cho, D. Desai, S. Dothan, J.L. Dunoff, S. Frerichs, B.G. Garth, M. Hirsch, R. James, C. Joerges, N. Lamp, A. Lang, M.R. Madsen, K. Mansveld, G. Messenger, M.A. Pollack, S. Puig, G.A. Sarfaty, D. Schneiderman, W.G. Werner