Max-Planck-Institut für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht Logo Max-Planck-Institut für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht

Sie befinden sich hier: Institut Personen Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiter/innen et al. Sparks, Tom

Thomas Sparks

LL.B, PhD (Dunelm), Senior Research Fellow

sparks@mpil.de
Tel. +49 (6221) 482-256

Main Fields of Research:

Public International Law; Statehood; Sovereignty and Self-Determination; Creation of States; Legal Theory; International Environmental Law


Academic Career:

  • Since 2018: Senior Research Fellow at the MPIL
  • 2020/21: Judicial Fellow, International Court of Justice (with Judge Peter Tomka)
  • 2013-2017: University of Durham, Ph.D.; Thesis title: Towards a Human-Centered International Law: Self-Determination and the Structure of the International Legal System.  European Research Council Studentship.
  • 2010-2013: University of Durham, Bachelor of Laws with Honours, First Class.

 


Aktuelle Publikationen

  • The World is Burning, Urgently and Irreparably - a Plea for Interim Protection against Climatic Change at the ICJ. In: Law and Practice of International Courts and Tribunals 22/2, 301-337 (2023). doi: 10.1163/15718034-bja10095 (zusammen mit Nataša Nedeski, Gleider Henández). Open Access
  • Self-Determination in the International Legal System: Whose Claim, to What Right?. Hart, Oxford, 2023, 268 S. doi: 10.5040/9781509945092 Open Access
  • Natural Law Theories. In: The Elgar Encyclopaedia of Human Rights, Christina Binder, Manfred Nowak, Jane A Hofbauer, Philipp Janig (Hrsg.). Edward Elgar, Cheltenham 2022, 539-545. Edward Elgar
  • Grotian Moments in the Law of Self-Determination: Law, Rhetoric, and Reality. In: Grotiana 43/1, 159-186 (2022). doi: 10.1163/18760759-43010008. Grotiana
  • Special Issue: Grotian Moments in International Law. In: Grotiana 43(1), 1-186 (2022). doi: 10.1163/18760759-43010001 (zusammen mit Mark Somos). Grotiana
  • Reassessing State Consent to Jurisdiction: the Indispensable Third Party Principle before the ICJ. In: Nordic Journal of International Law 91/2, 216-252 (2022). doi: 10.1163/15718107-91020005. Open Access
  • World Lawyers' Pledge on Climate Action. In: Environmental Policy and Law 51(6), 371-376 (2021). doi: 10.3233/EPL-219015 (zusammen mit Saskia Stucki, Guillaume Futhazar, Bruce Ackerman, Fatou Bensouda, Lalit Bhasin, David R. Boyd, Chunghwan Choi, Martyn Day, Eduardo Ferrer Mac-Gregor Poisot, Idayat Hassan, Donald W. Kaniaru, Helen Keller, Viviana Krsticevic, Antonio Oposa Jr., Anne Peters, Paulo Sérgio Pinto de Albuqueruqe, Flavia Piovesan, Caleb Pollard, Christina Voigt). EPL
  • Grotian Moments: An Introduction. In: Grotiana 42(2), 179-191 (2021). doi: 10.1163/18760759-42020003 (zusammen mit Mark Somos). Grotiana
  • Special Issue: Grotian Moments in International Law. In: Grotiana 42(2), 179-372 (2021). doi: 10.1163/18760759-42020003 (zusammen mit Mark Somos). Grotiana
  • The Place of the Environment in State of Nature Discourses: Reassessing Nature, Property and Sovereignty in the Anthropocene. In: The State of Nature: Histories of an Idea, Mark Somos, Anne Peters (Hrsg.). Brill, Leiden 2021, 363-398. Pre-publication version on SSRN
  • Transparency Procedures. In: The Oxford Handbook of International Environmental Law, second edn., Lavanya Rajamani, Jacqueline Peel (Hrsg.). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2021, 904-919 (zusammen mit Anne Peters). Publisher's website
  • Constitutions and Contagion – European Constitutional Systems and the COVID-19 Pandemic. In: Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht 81/1, 147-234 (2021). doi: 10.17104/0044-2348-2021-1-147 (zusammen mit Angelo Jr Golia, Laura Hering, Carolyn Moser). Download
  • Categorising Self-Determination: Four Forms. In: German Yearbook of International Law 63, 223-254 (2020). doi: 10.3790/gyil.63.1.223 (zusammen mit Gleider Hernández). Journal Website
  • The Humanisation of Provisional Measures?—Plausibility and the Interim Protection of Rights Before the ICJ. In: Provisional Measures Issued by International Courts and Tribunals, Fulvio Palombino, Roberto Virzo, Giovanni Zarra (Hrsg.). T.M.C. Asser Press, The Hague 2020, 77-105 (zusammen mit Mark Somos). Springer Link
  • Editorial: Animal Rights - Interconnections with Human Rights and the Environment. In: Journal of Human Rights and the Environment 11(2), 149-155 (2020). doi: 10.4337/jhre.2020.02.00 (zusammen mit Saskia Stucki, Visa Kurki). JHRE
  • Special Issue: Animal Rights - Interconnections with Human Rights and the Environment. In: Journal of Human Rights and the Environment 11(2), 149-329 (2020) (zusammen mit Saskia Stucki, Visa Kurki (Hrsg.)). JHRE
  • The Protection of Animals through Human Rights. The Case-Law of the European Court of Human Rights. In: Studies in Global Animal Law, Anne Peters (Hrsg.). Springer, Heidelberg 2020, 153-171. Springer Open Access
  • The State. In: Concepts for International Law: Contributions to Disciplinary Thought, Jean d'Aspremont, Sahib Singh (Hrsg.). Edward Elgar, Cheltenham 2019. Publisher's website
  • Statehood in an Era of Sinking Islands. In: Routledge Handbook of Climate Justice, Tahseen Jafry (Hrsg.). Routledge, Abingdon 2019, 83-99. Publisher's website
  • Book Review: Stilz, Anna: Territorial Sovereignty: A Philosophical Exploration, Oxford, 2019. In: Grotiana, 41(1), 237-245, 2020. Grotiana
  • Book Review: Kjeldgaard-Pedersen, Astrid: The International Legal Personality of the Individual, Oxford, 2018. In: German Yearbook of International Law, 61, 594-597, 2018.

Blogposts

  • World Lawyers’ Pledge on Climate Action: An Urgent Call for Climate Mainstreaming. EJIL:Talk!, 07. September 2021 (zusammen mit Saskia Stucki, Guillaume Futhazar, Erik Tuchtfeld, Hannah Foehr). EJIL:Talk!
  • World Lawyers’ Pledge on Climate Action: An Urgent Call for Climate Mainstreaming. Verfassungsblog, 07. September 2021 (zusammen mit Saskia Stucki, Guillaume Futhazar, Erik Tuchtfeld, Hannah Foehr). Verfassungsblog
  • The Elephant in the (Court)Room: Interdependence of Human and Animal Rights in the Anthropocene. EJIL:Talk!, 09 June 2020 (with Saskia Stucki). EJIL:Talk!
  • Judging climate change obligations: Can the World Court rise to the occasion? Part I: Primary obligations to combat climate change. Völkerrechtsblog, 30 April 2020. doi: 10.17176/20200430-133351-0 (with Nataša Nedeski, Gleider Hernández). Völkerrechtblog
  • Judging climate change obligations: Can the World Court rise to the occasion? Part II: What role for international adjudication?. Völkerrechtsblog, 30 April 2020. doi: 10.17176/20200501-013422-0 (with Nataša Nedeski, Gleider Hernández). Völkerrechtsblog
  • The urgent, the plausible and the irreparable: the significance of lowering ICJ thresholds for provisional measures. Völkerrechtsblog, 2018 (with Mark Somos). Völkerrechtsblog
  • On history, geography, and radical change in international law: An interview with BS Chimni. Völkerrechtsblog, 2018 (with Silvia Steininger). Völkerrechtsblog

Working Papers

  • Constitutions and Contagion: European Constitutional Systems and the COVID-19 Pandemic. Max Planck Reserach Paper no. 2020-42, 2020. doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3727240 (zusammen mit Angelo Golia, Carolyn Moser, Laura Hering). SSRN
  • Reassessing State Consent to Jurisdiction: The Indispensable Third Party Principle before the ICJ. MPIL Research Paper No. 2020-22, 2020. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.3635621. SSRN
  • The Place of the Environment in State of Nature Discourses: Reassessing Nature, Property and Sovereignty in the Anthropocene. MPIL Reserach Paper No. 2020-10, 26 March 2020, Forthcoming in Mark Somos and Anne Peters (eds.), The State of Nature: Histories of an Idea (Brill). doi: 10.2139/ssrn.3561671. SSRN
  • The Humanisation of Provisional Measures? Plausibility and the Interim Protection of Rights before the ICJ. MPIL Research Paper No. 2019-20, 18 October 2019. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3471141 (with Mark Somos). SSRN

In Medien

    MPG Wissen Was: Wissenschaftler reagieren auf Ökozid

    Klimasünder vor Gericht | Ökozid – ein fiktives Zukunftsszenario | Faktencheck

    Mit dem Laden des Videos akzeptieren Sie die Datenschutzerklärung von Youtube.

    2034 sind die Folgen der Klimakatastrophe dramatisch: Dürre und Hochwasser vernichten die Lebensgrundlage von Millionen Menschen. Ein Gericht muss entscheiden, ob die deutsche Politik für ihr Versagen beim Klimaschutz und wegen zu geringer Maßnahmen gegen den Klimawandel zur Verantwortung gezogen wird. Zwei Max-Planck-Wissenschaftler haben sich mit YouTuber Doktor Whatson den Film „Ökozid“ angesehen und ihn einem Faktencheck unterzogen: Hauke Schmidt vom Max-Planck-Institut für Meteorologie und Tom Sparks vom Max-Planck-Institut für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht.

Vorträge

11.09.2019 - 15.09.2019

Whose Atmosphere? Sovereignty, Acquisition, and Responsibility for Atmospheric Harms

ESIL Annual Conference

Athens

07.07.2019 - 13.07.2019

Protection of Animals through Human Rights: the Case-Law of the European Court of Human Rights

XXVIII IVR World Congress

Luzern

16.05.2019 - 17.05.2019

Beyond “Internal” and “External”: Legitimacy and Legality in Self-Determination’s Claims

'Self-Determination of Peoples in Historical Perspective' Workshop

Tartu

11.04.2019

Comment

Martins Paprinskis, A.P. Sereni Lecture, 'The Indispensable Third Party Principle in International Law'

Bologna

07.03.2019 - 08.03.2019

Secessionary Self-Determination in the Contemporary World: Legality and Legitimacy

'We the People' Workshop

Durham

14.12.2019 - 15.12.2019

The Humanisation of Provisional Measures? The Plausibility Criterion and Interim Protection of Rights

Provisional Measures before International Courts and Tribunals Workshop (with Mark Somos)

Benevento

17.07.2017 - 21.07.2017

Whose Claim, to What Right? A Taxonomy of the Self-Determination Genus

XXVIII IVR World Congress

Lisbon

17.07.2017 - 21.07.2017

Beetles in Boxes and Rubies Called Blue: The Semiotics of the International Legal Concept of "State"

XXVIII IVR World Congress

Lisbon

08.03.2017

An Imponderable Future? Post-Brexit Scotland, IndyRef2, and the European Treaties

International Law Seminar Series

University of Edinburgh

05.04.2015 - 07.04.2015

Who Owns the State? Secession and Self-Determination after Kosovo

Socio-Legal Studies Association Annual Conference

Lancaster

02.12.2014

"He who trusts to hope builds upon thin ice": Sovereignty and the Uncertain Foundations of International Order

Global Policy Institute Seminar Series

Durham

Lehre

Spring Semester 2020

Universität Mannheim: International Organisations

Summer Term 2019

Heidelberg International Law Colloquium: Introduction to Climate Law

Summer term 2018

Heidelberg International Law Colloquium: The State in International Law: Creation, Destruction, Deconstruction

Wissenschaftliche Auszeichnungen

  • 2018: Winner, Global Policy North Research Network thesis prize for the dissertation "Towards a Human-Centered International Law" (Durham University, 2017)

 


 Research Funding

  • 2013-2017: European Research Council PhD Studentship (£13726 pa)
  • 2019-2020: Fritz-Thyssen-Stiftung der Forderung der Wissenschaten, support for Individual in International Law Workshop (20.000€ - with Anne Peters)
  • 2019-2020: Deutsch Forschungs-Gemeinschaft, support for Individual in International Law Workshop (9.000€ - with Anne Peters)

Sonstiges

  • Member of the Scientific Committee, World Forum on Climate Justice (Glasgow, 19-21 June 2019)
  • 2014-2020:  Member of the Board of Directors, Amnesty International UK Section
  • 2014-2019:  Assistant Editor, International Courts of General Jurisdiction section of the Oxford Reports on International Law
  • Coordinator (with Silvia Steininger and Francesca Iurlaro) of the Discussion Group Theory Talks