Institutional Cooperation

German Federal Foreign Office

The Institute assists the German Federal Foreign Office at conferences and during international negotiations with its expertise in public international law and comparative law. Anne Peters is a member of the Council of International Law of the German Federal Foreign Office. The head of the international law division of the German Federal Foreign Office is, in turn, a permanent member of the Board of Trustees of the Institute.

Heidelberg Discussion Group on the Multilevel Cooperation of Constitutional Courts

The Institute organises the Heidelberg Discussion Group on the Multilevel Cooperation of Constitutional Courts (Heidelberger Gesprächskreis Verfassungsgerichtsverbund (HGVV)), whose annual seminars bring together judges and scholars in a confidential setting to discuss pressing questions dealing with the judicial branches in Europe, and to promote a constructive cooperation.

Cooperation with German research institutions

Armin von Bogdandy is a honorary professor at the University of Frankfurt/Main. His most important domestic cooperating partners include: the Law Faculty and the Cluster of Excellence Normative Orders at the University of Frankfurt/Main, the Theological Faculty and Law Faculty of Heidelberg University, and the Law Faculty of the Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich.

Anne Peters holds honorary professorships at Heidelberg University and the Freie Universität Berlin. Together with the German Federal Foreign Office, in 2016 two projects were launched at the Institute's Berlin venue involving practice-oriented, international law research (New International Legal Order, OSCE Legal Personality).

Cooperation with foreign research institutions

Armin von Bogdandy's intensive research cooperation is reflected in visiting professorships at the following foreign research institutions: Centro de Estudios Políticos y Constitucionales, Madrid, Erik Castrén Institute of International Law and Human Rights, Helsinki, European University Institute (General Course), Institute for Advanced Studies, Vienna, New York University School of Law, Tel Aviv University, Universidad Externado de Colombia, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Lissabon, Università degli Studi di Roma Tre, Università di Bologna, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Université Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas, University of Pennsylvania Law School, Venice Academy of Human Rights, Xiamen Academy of International Law, China.

Co-authorships, the most intensive form of research cooperation by Armin von Bogdandy, exist with researchers at the following universities: University of Amsterdam, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, University of Turin, Vienna University of Economics and Business.

Armin von Bogdandy has also co-edited academic publications with researchers from the following universities: Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Vienna University of Economics and Business.

A close cooperation exists between the MPIL and Tel Aviv University. Eyal Benvenisti (Tel Aviv/ Cambridge) is participating in the MPIL project International Public Authority. In addition, the Institute is connected with the universities of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem through the Minerva Center for Human Rights, the Advisory Board of which was presided over by Armin von Bogdandy until 2016. Anne Peters has meanwhile assumed this function.

The Latin American academic network consists of constitutional and public international law jurists and researchers from related disciplines such as history, political science and economics. The purpose of the network is to encourage academic exchange in the form of lectures, conferences and publications. Through this network, the Institute is connected with the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, Universidad de los Andes, Universidad del Externado in Bogotá, Universidad del Norte in Barranquilla, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Universidad Católica Andrés Bello in Caracas, Universidad de Chile, the Centro de Estudios Constitucionales de Chile, the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla et al.

Especially notable in this contact is the Institute's close cooperation with the Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas de la Universidad Autónoma de México (UNAM) in Mexico, the largest legal research institution in Latin America, as well as the Instituto Iberoamericano de Derecho Constitucional. The cooperation, encompasses the exchange of scholars, the co-sponsoring of conferences, as well as joint publications. It aims at strengthening the transfer of knowledge, particularly with respect to the increasing internationalization of constitutional law. Currently, the network's project focus is on the Ius Constitutionale Commune en América Latina. The Coloquio Iberoamericano is the core event of the MPIL in the network.

Anne Peters is cooperating in research and teaching with the European Confederation of Upper Rhine Universities (EUCOR), in the context of her research on Global Animal Law. Until 2016 she headed the doctoral programme "Law and Animals" of the Law Faculty at the University of Basel.

Besides acting as vice-president of the Foundation Board of the Basel Institute on Governance (BIG) Anne Peters is regularly involved in BIG projects on the topic of governance. Following projects on Conflict of Interest and Transparency, e.g., she is examining "Corruption and Human Rights" in cooperation with the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.

Anne Peters also regularly teaches in the post-graduate programme Interdisciplinary Conflict Analyses and Conflict Resolution of the University of Basel.

Doctoral exchange programmes exist with the École de Droit de la Sorbonne (Paris 1), Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas and Sciences Po and doctoral candidates are jointly supervised in a bi-national programme. Both directors of the Institute have repeatedly had guest professorships at these institutions. Evelyne Lagrange (Paris 1) has been member of the Academic Advisory Board and became an External Academic Member of the Institute in 2015. Since 2014, Emmanuelle Tourme Jouannet (Sciences Po) has been a co-editor of the Journal of the History of International Law. Anne Peters participates in the administration of the regular gatherings of the German and the French Associations for International Law (SFDI-DGIR) and, since 2016 the Franco-German Ph.D. seminar.

In 2015, the Franco-German academic cooperation HeiParisMax was established with the primary objective of facilitating research stays of young researchers from the neighbouring country at both the Ph.D. and the postdoctoral levels without facing heavy bureaucratic hurdles.

From 2012 until 2016 Anne Peters was a member of the Scientific Council of the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence, and from 2012 until 2014, she was co-editor of the European Journal of International Law published at the EUI. Both directors have held Academy of European Law lectures at the EUI's summer academy.

Close cooperation exists in the area of Global Animal Law with the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, where Anne Peters has held lectures on the topic since 2014. A Joint Master degree programme was initiated there in 2016. Anne Peters is also a co-founder of the research partnership EuroGroup for Animal Law Studies (EGALS).

Since 2014, the Institute has been an institutional member of the European Society of International Law (ESIL). It participates with a book table at the ESIL annual meetings, where it presents its latest publications.

Anne Peters is a member of the Committee on the Use of Force and the Study Group on the Interaction between Domestic and International Law of the International Law Association (ILA).

Close connections exist with the Law School of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Daniel Halberstam was a member and has until 2018 been the Chair of the Academic Advisory Board of the MPIL. Anne Peters held a guest professorship at the Law School in 2016. As of 2017, she was appointed there as Cook Global Law Professor.

Through Anne Peters, the MPIL has a regional focus at Japan and China. Anne Peters is participating in a research project of Waseda University (Tokyo) on Global Constitutionalism and supervises a doctoral candidate of the Waseda Law Faculty. At Beijing University (Beida), Anne Peters held a visiting professorship in 2014 and 2016 and was a Global Fellow in 2016. Beijing University regularly sends doctoral candidates to the Institute.

The Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa (University of Pretoria) assists in the editorial supervision of the Constitutions of the Countries of the World.

The Institute has been active for more than ten years in the Global Knowledge Transfer. Following the spin-off of the Max Planck Foundation for International Peace and the Rule of Law, this work is continuing on a smaller scale, partially in cooperation with the Foundation. The particular projects involved especially target countries that are striving to establish legal and democratic structures after conflicts.