Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law

In this joint interview, Anne Peters and Axel Ockenfels discuss legal and economic approaches to tackling the global climate crisis

This year’s World Climate Summit in Dubai ends with a strong commitment to science

Armin von Bogdandy about the erosion of democracy in Poland and Hungary, parallels with Latin America, and  the EU’s rule of law

What options are there for holding those accountable who are responsible for the Ukraine war? In an interview, International Law expert Christian Marxsen explains which courts are responsible and what the impact of a guilty verdict over the perpetrators might be

Conditions in Greek EU hotspots and German arrival centres violate fundamental rights and EU directives

Democracy can be abolished through democratic means. This lesson from the Weimar Republic has not seemed as relevant as it does today for several decades. To what extent can laws protect democracy, and where are their limitations? Researchers from the Max Planck Law network explore the need for statutory regulations and how they function.

According to UNHCR, over 116 million people were displaced globally in 2023 – due to violence, armed conflict, and, increasingly, as a result of extreme climate events, rising sea levels, and resource conflicts such as those caused by water shortages. However, the creators of the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention did not consider climate impacts as a reason for leaving one’s homeland. International law and migration research now explores how climate change-induced migration could be managed.

Today, it seems self-evident that the primary goal of diplomacy is to secure peace among nations. Whether this succeeds depends on two factors: the skills of the political negotiators and the expertise in the background. The Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law has provided such expertise now for 100 years, leaving its mark on contemporary history.

Polish voters have spoken: after eight years of government by the Law and Justice party (PiS), Poland wants to stop the dismantling of its constitutional democracy. But how can democracy be restored if the nation’s president and its constitutional court are pursuing a different agenda? Armin von Bogdandy and Dimitri Spieker believe prudence, strategy, and ideas from the people are crucial.

The Maldives, Kiribati, Tuvalu, and parts of the Solomon Islands: if the sea level continues to rise, several island states will vanish under the sea within a few decades. As things stand today, the residents will lose their homelands – with little chance of asylum or replacement territory. Lawyer Tom Sparks of the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law searches for solutions for sinking states.

Europe is currently experiencing the largest movement of refugees since the Second World War. However, unlike 2015, when many people from Syria and Afghanistan sought shelter in Europe, there are currently no demands to turn back refugees at the border. How does the situation today differ from then? And what lessons can we learn from this for the future? Our author Dana Schmalz searched for the answers to these questions.

Thus far, most industrialized countries have taken only half-hearted measures to limit their CO₂ emissions, and the effects of global warming are becoming increasingly apparent. At the same time, the pressure on governments is growing as climate activists are increasingly taking the matter to court. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for International, European and Regulatory Procedural Law and the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law are looking into how jurisprudence and legislation could help to counter climate change.

The past years have seen a remarkable decline in constitutional democracy in several EU Member States. The recent Polish elections, however, show that illiberal developments can be reversed. Still, any new government will face the challenge of how to reestablish constitutional democracy and repair the state’s membership within the European Union: this requires a veritable transition 2.0. Our project explores how European law and institutions may help facilitate this transition, but also impose constraints on such endeavours.

Wildlife, livestock, and other animals are the neglected victims of armed conflicts. The project is the very first legal analysis of the weak protection of animals during warfare. It examines which concepts, principles, and rationales of international humanitarian law can be applied and adapted for a better protection of animals and how this can be accomplished. It suggests measures to be taken by national and international authorities in order to improve implementation and enforcement of the legal regime. 

Concerns with population numbers have a long history. Yet only in the past 120 years, the world population is a topic in academic and public debates. Linked to population developments are several normative questions. In my research, I am exploring how debates around population numbers shaped modern law, and how in particular in the phase between 1945 and 1980, the issue of global and regional population growth played a role in the developments of international law. A key observation is that law was not only a tool for regulating population developments but also a site of narrative authority.

In international law, due diligence obligations require states to upgrade their procedures and institutional capacities for risk management. Such obligations contribute to enhancing states’ accountability. Simultaneously, the focus on due diligence threatens to dilute substantive legal obligations and thereby to weaken the international legal order. Our book analyses the rise of due diligence obligations in various areas of international law. It also places this development in the context of a current trend towards procedural, as opposed to substantive, obligations.

International Economic Law can hamper the realization of a transformative constitutionalism aiming to overcome structural social problems in Latin America. A project at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law analyses the issue and sketches possible solutions.