Description
International legal scholarship often focuses on careful doctrinal description of what the law is. However, international lawyers have long recognised that concepts, methodologies, and experimental evidence from the social sciences may shed substantial light on inquiries such as treaty design, interpretation, effectiveness, custom, soft law, international institutions, substantive norms, and international legal theory. Recent developments in international legal scholarship indicate an increased interest in social sciences, such as (behavioural) economics, international political theory, and sociology, into the analysis of international law. These insights are used to analyse topics from a broad range of sub-fields, such as human rights, the law of the sea, investment law, the laws of war, environmental law, trade law, the role of adjudication, and the role of international organizations. The creation of this Interest Group (IG) establishes a forum in which members that draw on methodologies, concepts, theories, or experimental evidence from the social sciences can present their research, gain feedback from like-minded scholars, and broaden their knowledge of neighbouring disciplines. The IG has two objectives: (1) to further our understanding of how, when, and whether to integrate insights from social sciences in the analysis of international law, and; (2) to stimulate debate regarding the benefits and limitations – from both a positive and normative perspective – to social sciences approaches to international law.| Period | 1 Oct 2022 → 30 Sep 2026 |
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| Held at | ESIL Interest Group on Social Sciences and International Law, Italy |
| Degree of Recognition | International |