French National Centre for Scientific Research

Post-Doc, Geosciences Environnement Toulouse Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées, Toulouse (France)

PhD in Law

European University Institute

Thesis Title: A Dynamic View On Normative Behavior. Agent-Based Models of Law

About

When dealing with norm compliance, we can talk about three different layers. First, law's addressees consider their potential legal liability in case they don't abide the norm. Monetary sanctions, incentives and other deterrence measures are essential. Second, the morally persuasive role that is inherent to law, `it's the right thing to do'. Sometimes the `threat' of punishment is not the main reason for conformity, and non-pecuniary considerations must be taken into account.

Individuals belong to communities, and share general respect for a system of values and norms. Norms are seen as a reflection of the set of behaviors that are desirable or legitimate in the shared view of society, and whose violation elicits at least informal disapproval. This socio-cultural aspect of law has deep implications in terms of policy: instilling a norm in countries where it currently does not prevail nor is culturally accepted may be a daunting task. This leads us to the third aspect of normative behavior proposed in this manuscript: the procedural aspect. Once the norm is established and the ecacy of its deterrence methods evaluated, authorities must nd an adequate way to deal with cases of possible liability resulting from non-compliance.

In order to disentangle the real nature and dynamics of normativity, the first issue requires nding the proper way to study the development of such phenomena: is it a spontaneous process over which individuals have little control, and which depends on psycho-cognitive human characteristics, or is it a more complex phenomenon? My suggestion is that it should be conceived within a social learning approach, emphasizing the cognitive outcomes of cultural learning. Furthermore, I believe that an interdisciplinary approach to the issue, mainly based on theories of social and customary norms and agent-based modeling, could oer fresh new insights.