I am a generalist international lawyer with a research focus on international institutional law, the United Nations system, and the rule of law within and beyond the state. My current research focuses on how the rule of law was conceptually shaped in the UN system and highlights the UN Secretariat’s role in operationalizing it. I also have an active research agenda on the potential of quantitative text analysis to study normative developments at the UN.
My book The Rule of Law in Germany: Bringing the Rechtsstaat into the 21st Century (with Dana Burchardt) was published in Hart’s Rule of Law in Context book series in 2025.
I have in the past conducted research on how international courts manage overlapping legal regimes as part of a multi-year interdisciplinary research group on Overlapping Spheres of Authority and Interface Conflicts, and on the UN’s 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development, especially on Goal 5 (gender equality), Goal 11 (cities and human settlements), and Goal 16 (peaceful and inclusive societies).
Recent publications
“Change in International Organizations”, in: Gabrielle Marceau/Henner Gött (eds.), International Organizations’ Initiatives: How and Why Organizations Adapt to Changes, Oxford University Press, forthcoming (final draft).
The Rule of Law in Germany: Bringing the Rechtsstaat into the 21st Century (with Dana Burchardt), Hart Publishing (2025).
“The Rule of Law and the United Nations”, in: Handbook of the Rule of Law, Michael Sevel (ed.), Routledge 2024, 372-392.
“Das Recht internationaler Organisationen als Rechtsquelle – aber für welche Akteure?” [“International organizations’ law as a source of law – but for whom?”], Archiv des Völkerrechts, 62(1), 88-112.
“What the Secretariat Makes It: How International Civil Servants Shape Contemporary International Law”, International Organizations Law Review 20 (2023), 426–456 (final draft).
“Beyond Peace and Security: The UN Transition Assistance Group in Namibia as a Frame for Contemporary Constitution-Making”, AJIL Unbound 117, 257-262.
“SDG 11 – Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”, in: Oxford Commentary on the Sustainable Development Goals, Ilias Bantekas/Francesco Seatzu (eds.), Oxford University Press 2023, 799-857.
“Taking Stock: A Review of Germany’s Two Years on the Security Council”, in: German Practice in International Law 2020, Stefan Talmon (ed.) , Cambridge University Press 2023, 328-335.
“International Law as a Common Language Across Spheres of Authority?”, Global Constitutionalism 9(2), 318-342 (open access).
For a full publication list, click here. Please reach out if you’d like to read any of my publications, but lack access to them.
Dr. Hannah Birkenkötter 