Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law Logo Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law

You are here: Institute People Academic Staff et al. Schäfer, Raphael

Raphael Schäfer

Dr. iur.; Senior Research Fellow

schaefer@mpil.de
Tel. +49 (6221) 482-305

Main Fields of Research:

International humanitarian law; history and basics of international law; global history; national and international judiciary; comparative public law; legal theory; law and literature

Academic Career:

since October 2023: MJur Candidate, University of Oxford

October 2023: Elected as Young Marsilius Fellow 2023/24

December 2022: Elected as Associate Fellow of the Royal Historical Society

November 2022: Doctorate (Dr. iur.) at the Faculty of Law of the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg

April 2022: Defense of the dissertation

October 2019 to October 2022: Law Clerkship (Rechtsreferendariat) at the Heideberg District Court. Stages inter alia at the Federal Foreign Office (temporarily on leave to complete the dissertation)

July 2019: Visiting Doctoral Researcher at the University of Melbourne, Institute for International Law and the Humanities

June 2019: Visiting Doctoral Researcher at the University of Sydney, Sydney Centre for International Law

September 2017 to December 2017: Visiting Doctoral Researcher at École de Droit, SciencesPo Paris

Since September 2016: Managing Editor of the Journal of the History of International Law

July 2016 to September 2016: Visiting Doctoral Researcher at Clare Hall College and the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, University of Cambridge

Since Summer term 2016: Lecturer (Lehrbeauftragter) at Ruprecht-Karls-University of Heidelberg

Since April 2015: PhD Candidate at the University of Heidelberg under the supervision of Anne Peters. Research Project Codification of the Laws of War

Since September 2014: Research fellow at the Institute

July 2014 to September 2014: Graduate assistant to Prof. Dr. Stephan Schill

June 2014: First State Exam in Law (Land of Baden-Württemberg) 

September 2012 to July 2014: Student assistant to Prof. Dr. Stephan Schill

October 2008: Start of Legal Studies at Ruprecht-Karls-University of Heidelberg (with an additional training in Anglo-American Law). Stages at German Bundestag, Berlin and at the German Consulate General, New York City

_____

Follow me on Twitter: @RaphSchaefer

Recent Publications

  • Book Review: Finke, Jonas: (Un-)bedingte Gleichheit nichtstaatlicher Gewaltakteure im Völkerrecht, Baden-Baden, 2020. In: Archiv des Völkerrechts, 59/3, 377-381, 2021. to the contribution
  • Politics and Histories of International Law. The Quest for Knowledge and Justice. Brill, Leiden, 2021, 504 p. (editor with Anne Peters). to the contribution
  • Miloš Vec, A Luminous Trace. Commemorating the Frankfurt Lawyer and Historian of International Law Michael Stolleis (20 July 1941–18 March 2021). In: Journal of the History of International Law 23/3, 377-390 (2021). to the contribution
    Transl. of: Eine leuchtende Spur Zum Tod des Frankfurter Juristen und Völkerrechtshistorikers Michael Stolleis (20. Juli 1941–18. März 2021)
    Translated into: English
  • Cynical International Law? Abuse and Circumvention in Public International and European Law. Springer, Berlin, 2021, 369 p. (editor with Björnstjern Baade, Dana Burchardt, Prisca Feihle, Alicia Köppen, Linus Mührel and Lena Riemer). to the contribution
  • Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide Case (Croatia v Serbia). In: Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law, Rüdiger Wolfrum (ed.). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2020. to the contribution
  • Politics and the Histories of International Law: An Introduction to the Special Issue. In: Journal of the History of International Law 2-3, 197-204 (2020) (with Anne Peters and Randall Lesaffer). to the contribution
  • Soft law im System des Völkerrechts. In: JuS 9, 827-831 (2020). to the contribution
  • Book Review: Gaita, Raimond, Simpson, Gerry (eds.): Who’s Afraid of International Law?, Monash University Publishing, 2017. In: Heidelberg Journal of International Law, 3/2019, 752-757, 2019. to the contribution
  • Book Review: Lange, Felix: Praxisorientierung und Gemeinschaftskonzeption. Hermann Mosler als Wegbereiter der westdeutschen Völkerrechtswissenschaft nach 1945, Springer, 2017. In: Völkerrechtsblog, 16. April, 2019. to the contribution
  • The 150th Anniversary of the St Petersburg Declaration: Introductory Reflections on a Janus-Faced Document. In: Journal of the History of International Law 20/4, 501-514 (2018). to the contribution
  • Book Review: Zollmann, Jakob: Naulila 1914. World War I in Angola and International Law. A Study in (Post-)Colonial Border Regimes and Interstate Arbitration, Nomos, 2016. In: Journal of the History of International Law, 20/2, 257-262, 2018. to the contribution
  • Leitfälle des Internationalen Gerichthofs aus 70 Jahren Rechtsprechung. In: JURA - Juristische Ausbildung 9, 906-915 (2018). to the contribution
  • A History of Division(s): a Critical Assessment of the Law of Non-International Armed Conflict. In: International Humanitarian Law in Areas of Limited Statehood, Nomos 2018, 43-58. to the contribution
  • Einführung in das internationale Investitionsschutzrecht. In: JuS 9, 795-799 (2016). to the contribution
  • Humanitäres Völkerrecht in Zeiten des internationalen Terrorismus. In: JuS 3, 218-223 (2015). to the contribution
  • Verfassungswidrigkeit der Drei-Prozent-Sperrklausel im Europawahlrecht - Darstellung von BVerfG, 2BvE 2/13 vom 26.02.2014. In: StudZR 2 (2014).
  • Praktikum beim Deutschen Generalkonsulat New York - ein Erfahrungsbericht. In: JURA 1 (2013).

Blogposts

Working Papers

Media

Presentations

13 Nov 2023

A Transformative UK Supreme Court Judgment? Holding a Diplomat Accountable for Modern Slavery in Basfar v Wong

Monday Meeting

Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law

12 Jul 2023

Grenzland. Die Ukraine in der Geschichte des europäischen Völkerrechts

Vortragsreihe Ukraine?! Hintergründe und Diskussionen

Württembergische Landesbibliothek Stuttgart

https://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/die-wlb/kultur-und-wissenschaft/veranstaltungen/ukraine/

24 Nov 2022

Humanität als Vehikel - Der Diskurs um die Kodifikation des Kriegsrechts im Gleichgewichtssystem des europäischen Völkerrechts in den formgebenden Jahren von 1815 bis 1874

Literaturhaus Heilbronn

https://www.heilbronn.de/rathaus/aktuelles/details/artikel/hans-jaeckh-preis-fuer-raphael-schaefer.html

11 Jan 2021

"Eisen und Blut" - Die Gründung des deutschen Kaiserreiches und das europäische Völkerrecht

Referentenbesprechung

Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg

23 Nov 2020

Ein "Sieg für die Menschheit"? Die 50. Ratifikation des Atomwaffenverbotsvertrages

Referentenbesprechung

Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg

30 Sep 2019

The Jadhav Case (India v. Pakistan)

Referentenbesprechung (with Kanad Bagchi)

Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg

11 May 2019

Bedeutung und Entwicklung des Völkerrechts in den Internationalen Beziehungen

Seminar "Geopolitische Entwicklungen im 21. Jahrhundert"

Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, Politisches Bildungsforum Thüringen, Erfurt

11 Dec 2018

The Past as Tragedy, the Present as Farce? International Law’s Historiographical Turn and the Reading of History

International Law Forum

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

14 Sep 2018

Die Kodifikationsgeschichte des Kriegsrechts im 19. Jahrhundert

Max Planck Day

Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg

16 Aug 2018

The Past as Tragedy, the Present as Farce? International Law’s Historiographical Turn and the Reading of History

Theory Talks

Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg

02 Jul 2018

Latest developments before the ICJ: Equatorial Guinea v. France; Qatar v. United Arab Emirates

Referentenbesprechung

Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg

27 Apr 2018

Between Humanity and Necessity - The Laws of War in the 19th Century

Gastvortrag

Institut für Rechts- und Verfassungsgeschichte, Universität Wien

11 Apr 2018

Die Funktion des Kriegsrechts im 19. Jahrhundert

Project presentation within the Masterclass „Unterwerfung der Welt? Probleme europäischer Globalgeschichte 1415-2015“ with Wolfgang Reinhard

Faculty of Theology, Humboldt-University Berlin

15 Feb 2018

Wilhelm Grewe's Epochs of International Law and the 21st Century. In which Epoch are we living?

Thursday Lunchtime Talks

Clare Hall College, University of Cambridge

20 Oct 2017

The Turn to History in International Law and the Problem of Linear Time

Leiden Journal of International Law, 30th Anniversary Symposium on "The Trajectories of International Legal Histories"

Leiden University, Campus Den Haag

24 Jul 2017

The Jadhav Case (India v. Pakistan)

Referentenbesprechung (with Kanad Bagchi)

Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg

24 Apr 2017

Application of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Ukraine v. Russian Federation)

Referentenbesprechung

Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg

31 Mar 2017

Die juristische Dimension der Menschenrechte

SDW-Promovierendenforum 2017/I

Pallotti Haus Freising

16 Jan 2017

Obligations concerning Negotiations relating to Cessation of the Nuclear Arms Race and to Nuclear Disarmament (Marshall Islands v. United Kingdom)

Referentenbesprechung

Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg

07 Oct 2016

Ius in bello, laws of war, international humanitarian law – did we all speak the same language throughout history?

Historicising International (Humanitarian) Law? – Could we? Should we?

Hugo Valentin Centre, Uppsala University

Abstract (19.0 KB)

14 Sep 2016

The Turn to History in International Law: A Twisted Road to the Past?

The Peregrine Talks

Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, University of Cambridge

Abstract (7.6 KB)

02 Nov 2015

Questions relating to the Seizure and Detention of Certain Documents and Data (Timor-­Leste v. Australia)

Referentenbesprechung

Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg

Presentation (1399.8 KB)

11 Sep 2015

Zwischen Politik und Moral: zur Auslegung humanitärvölkerrechtlicher Normen

Die Versprechungen des Rechts: Dritter Kongress der deutschsprachigen Rechtssoziologie-Vereinigungen

Humboldt-Universität, Berlin

01 Jun 2015

Aktuelle Probleme des humanitären Völkerrechts

Colloquium: Current Developments in International Law

Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg

Teaching

Summer term 2023

Tutorial in Public Law

Summer term 2023

Study Group in Public International Law

Winter term 2022/23

Study Group in Public International Law

Summer term 2022

Tutorial in Public Law

Summer term 2022

Study Group in Public International Law

Winter term 2021/22

Study Group in Public International Law

Summer term 2021

Study Group in Public International Law

Winter term 2020/21

Study Group in Public International Law

Summer term 2020

Study Group in Public International Law

Winter term 2019/20

Study Group in Public International Law

Summer term 2019

Study Group in Public International Law

Winter term 2018/19

Study Group in Public International Law

Summer term 2018

Study Group in Public International Law

Winter term 2017/18

Study Group in Public International Law

Summer term 2017

Study Group in Public International Law

Winter term 2016/17

Study Group in Public International Law

Summer term 2016

Study Group in Public International Law

Winter term 2015/16

Seminar: Philip C Jessup Moot Court Competition

Winter term 2014/15

Seminar: Philip C Jessup Moot Court Competition

Participation in Conferences at Home and Abroad

Imperial Artefacts: History, Law and the Looting of Cultural Property (Chair of the Panel "Multi-disciplinary Perspectives on Colonial Violence and Restitution"), Universität Leiden (online), 28.01.2021 - 29.01.2021

Cynical International Law? Abuse and Circumvention in Public International Law (Co-Organisation and Chair of the Panel "Cynical Actors in International Law"), Freie Universität Berlin, 06.09.2019 - 07.09.2019

Politics and the Histories of International Law (Co-Organisation and Chair of the Panel "Slavery, Slave Trade and the Law of the Sea), Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg, 15.02.2019 - 16.02.2019

Agora Presentation by Irini Papanicolopulu: The Past and Present of the Duty to Rescue at Sea (Chair), Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg, 13.02.2019

Winter Course 2019, The Hague Academy of International Law, The Hague, 07.01.2019 - 25.01.2019

The Parisian Peace Treaties (1919-1920) and the Emergence of Modern International Law, Tilburg University, 17.05.2018

Political Thought, Time and History: An International Conference, Clare College, University of Cambridge, 10.05.2018 - 11.05.2018

How to Read Decisions of the European Court of Justice, 6th Max Planck Masterclass in International Law, Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg, 15.05.2017 - 18.05.2017

Privatisation Under and Of Public International Law, Lauterpacht Lecture 2017, Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, University of Cambridge, 07.03.2017 - 10.03.2017

Self-defence against Non-state Actors, Max Planck Trialogues on the Law of Peace and War Vol. I, Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg, 04.11.2016 - 05.11.2016

Law Between Global and Colonial - Techniques of Empire, Erik Castrén Institute of International Law and Human Rights, University of Helsinki, 03.10.2016 - 05.10.2016

International Procedural Law: Common Principles or General Principles?, 3rd Gaetano Morelli Lectures, Università La Sapienza, Rome, 26.05.2016 - 27.05.2016

A Century after the Russian Revolution: Its Legacy in International Law, Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg, 19.05.2016

History, Politics, Law: Thinking Through the International, Clare College, University of Cambridge, 16.05.2016 - 17.05.2016

Global Governance in Hard Times, 5th Max Planck Masterclass in International Law, Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg, 02.05.2016 - 04.05.2016

Teaching International Law – up-to-date?!, Meeting of the German Society of International Law, University of Cologne, 16.03.2016

ICSID at 50: Investment Arbitration as a Motor of General International Law?, Frankfurt Investment Law Workshop, Goethe Universität, Frankfurt am Main, 11.03.2016 - 12.03.2016

"Neue Technik - neue Kriege?" Aktuelle Probleme des "ius contra bellum" und des "ius in bello", Blockseminar, Freie Universität Berlin, 21.01.2016 - 22.01.2016

Decisions of the ICJ as Sources of International Law?, 2nd Gaetano Morelli Lectures, Università La Sapienza, Rome, 21.05.2015 - 23.05.2015

Global Justice and the Purpose of International Law, 4th Max Planck Masterclass in International Law, Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg, 04.05.2015 - 06.05.2015

The (Comparative) Constitutional Law of Private-Public Arbitration, Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg, 21.11.2014 - 22.11.2014

The Incorporation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg, 02.09.2014 - 03.09.2014

Honours

Prize of the Hans Jäckh Foundation in recognition of the contribution of the dissertation to the understanding of the peoples of Europe

Teaching prize awarded by the Heidelberg Jubilee Foundation for significant scientific activity and teaching talent

Scholarship from the Foundation of the German Economy, granted from funds of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research

German Academic Exchange Service mobility scholarship (PROMOS), awarded by the University of Heidelberg's Akademische Auslandsamt

Memberships

Miscellaneous

Languages

German, English, French, Spanish


Peer-Review

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies

Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies

Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Procedural Law

Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht