International Law's Invisible Frames

Abstract

Abstract Law as a social process carried out by human beings is a stimulating object of investigation for those who would like to analyse social cognition and knowledge production processes. Humans acquire and form their knowledge through cognitive processes and in turn form a representation of reality by processing and using this knowledge through different mental channels. To better conceive the invisible frames within which international law moves and performs, we must understand how psychological and socio-cultural factors can affect decision-making in an international legal process, identify the groups of people and institutions that may shape and alter the prevailing discourse in international law at any given time, and unearth the hidden meaning of the various mythologies that populate and influence our normative world. Through illustrations across different areas of international law and insights from various fields of knowledge, this book seeks to investigate the mechanisms that allow us to apprehend and intellectually represent the social practice of international law, to unveil the hidden or often unnoticed processes by which our understanding of international law is formed, and to make us unlearn some of the presuppositions that activate automatic cognitive processes and inform our largely unquestioned beliefs about international law.