Max Planck-ASLH Dissertation Prize awarded for groundbreaking work on international courts and global governance

Aden Knaap, a recent graduate of Harvard University, has been awarded the Max Planck-ASLH Dissertation Prize for his dissertation entitled ,Judging the World: International Courts and the Origins of Global Governance, 1899-1971‘. The prize recognises Knaap's meticulously researched work, which traces the history and development of international courts from the first efforts in 1899 to the establishment of today's international legal institutions after the Second World War. Knaap's work offers a fresh perspective by highlighting the pivotal role of international court initiatives in the early twentieth century, a period often overlooked in narratives of global governance. He shows how early visions for institutions such as the United Nations and the World Bank initially included plans for global courts, underscoring the legal and diplomatic foundations that shaped modern international governance.

The Max Planck-ASLH Dissertation Prize is awarded to outstanding dissertations on topics in European legal history in global perspective and presented for PhD or JSD degrees awarded in the previous calendar year. Topics may include European legal interactions with people or places outside Europe, legal processes spanning Europe and other world regions, and developments in legal theory closely related to imperial, transnational, or trans-regional trends.

The award includes a three-month residential fellowship at our institute. The fellowship includes a monthly stipend, a round-trip airfare allowance and accommodation in an institute apartment.