The behavioral dimensions of international cooperation

Messner, Dirk / Alejandro Guarín / Daniel Haun
External Publications (2016)

in: Dirk Messner / Silke Weinlich (eds.), Global cooperation and the human factor in international relations, London: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 47-65

ISBN: 978-1-13891-299-1
Information

In view of several global problems, such as climate change, international cooperation gets most important. But here arises a paradox: a spreading consensus of the importance and urgency of global problems, together with the rise of seemingly intractable cooperation blockades. For a better understanding of global cooperation and the consequential problems this article addresses insights of behavioral science approaches. Unlike economics, which has used behavioral insights to enrich theories of macro-behavior, in International Relations theories the insights gained by the behavioral sciences beyond rational choice have been so far largely ignored. Here we argue that International Relations theories need to be expanded to accommodate what we know about human cooperation, and this knowledge could be used to design new and better instruments for global cooperation.

About the author

Messner, Dirk

Political Scientist