Social Science Research Council

The Social Science Research Council's Program on Global Security and Cooperation (GSC) has begun a new initiative to forge collaboration between the fields of international law and international relations, both in theory and practice, which would enhance the worldwide utility of "human security" norms. Much work has already been done to articulate the benefits and opportunities of a joint research agenda in this field, but the empirical canon of this sub-field remains sparse. The promise of a dual agenda is in answering questions such as: How are international legal regimes created and implemented? Are regulatory regimes based on verifiable rationales for modifying state, group, or individual behavior? How can the performance of such regimes be evaluated? Transnational legal regimes are a major tool of international cooperation with huge potential for improving global security. If that potential is to be realized, we need to better understand how regimes are optimally constructed, how they function, and how well they perform. To do that, we need scholarship that draws on a variety of traditions. Joining social science methodologies with those of law would help to explain the causal relationships implicit in nascent international regimes and thereby contribute to more effective outcomes.The project draws on the expertise of a core group of scholars, which first met in July 2001 and chose a case-study approach to go beyond theoretical discussion and concentrate on fresh approaches to urgent problems of international security and governance. These fresh approaches entail the production of new knowledge as well as bridging the gap between relevant scholars and on-the-ground practitioners in a systematic and innovative way. The core group also identified several areas crucial to the achievement of a sustainable global peace, areas that require new research and new ways of applying research and scholarship. The first case-study workshop in the series, held in February, 2002, in Washington, D.C., addressed the issue of small arms and light weapons proliferation. This was later followed by workshops which dealt with the problems of terrorism and, most recently, internally displaced persons. Ultimately, the purpose is to have these case studies refracted through the lenses of different legal and social science methods to illuminate how law and political processes intersect to influence the possibilities for international cooperation. Clarifying the variables at play in each case should assist those practitioners committed to enhancing global security by the application of norms through law. The empirical demonstration of the politico-legal process at work in international affairs should also contribute to ongoing revision of the theoretical and methodological habits of the scholarly disciplines of law and international relations.

Click here to view a summary of the workshop on International Criminal Accountability

Click here to view a summary of the workshop on Internally Displaced Persons

Click here to view a summary of the workshop on Terrorism

Click here to view a summary of the workshop on Small Arms