Dana Burchardt, "The Authority of International Courts: A Behavioural Framework" (Hart Publishing, 2026)

Why do some international courts wield broad authority while others face pushback or fade into irrelevance? The Authority of International Courts: A Behavioural Framework

(Hart Publishing, 2026) by Dr. Dana Burchardt provides novel

theoretical and empirical insights into this question. It offers a

fresh, interdisciplinary perspective on the authority of international

courts, drawing from law, political science and behavioural research.

It

develops, in Part I, a theoretical model and analytical framework for

assessing these questions. The model explains how authority

relationships between courts and their audiences—such as states, NGOs,

individual applicants, and domestic courts—are formed, maintained,

or contested. In Part II, the book applies this analytical framework to

in-depth case studies of two selected international courts: the