About Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law
Under the auspices of Professor Dr. Rüdiger Wolfrum, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law (Max Planck Institute), an initiative was launched in 2004 to compile the Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law (MPEPIL). This work represents a new edition of the
Encyclopedia of Public International Law that was published between 1991 and 2001 under Professor Dr. Rudolf Bernhardt. The MPEPIL will be made available in electronic and print form by Oxford University Press from Summer 2008. The online publication will be steadily expanded until all of the nearly 1700 articles are made available by 2010. Once the online publication is completed, a print version will be published.
Upon its completion, the MPEPIL will be an updated, comprehensive work covering the central and essential topics in international law. Accordingly, the previous edition is not being revised. Rather, nearly all topics are being rewritten and many new topics included in order to capture the latest developments in international law. To do justice to the changing nature of international law, an increased emphasis will be placed on the relevance of each keyword for contemporary international law. Particular attention will be paid to the contextualization of each topic within international law as well as the presentation of current trends while maintaining a focus on the mainstream/majority view. The goal is to avoid a purely Eurocentric perspective and this will be achieved with the assistance of academics and practitioners from various legal backgrounds and perspectives. The intention is that the MPEPIL will be a work that reflects international law from a global perspective while taking into account regional perspectives.
The authors of the articles are legal scholars and practitioners from all over the world. The authors speak in their personal capacity only. Any views they express or information they provide cannot be attributed to the institutions with which they are currently, or have previously been, affiliated.
All articles were reviewed by the Members of the MPEPIL Advisory Board consisting of leading experts on international law who ensure the high level of quality for each article.
A number of persons are currently, or have been, involved in the MPEPIL. Its General Editor is Rüdiger Wolfrum, assisted by the previous and current Managing Editors Alexandra Guhr, Daniel Heilmann, Karen Kaiser, Frauke Lachenmann, Monika Pohlmann and Matthias Reuss.
The MPEPIL Advisory Board providing the peer review of all entries consists of Armin von Bogdandy, Edith Brown Weiss, Jean-Pierre Cot, Yoram Dinstein, Thomas M. Franck, Jochen Abr. Frowein, Meinhard Hilf, Rahmatullah Khan, Martti Koskenniemi, Thomas Läufer, Thomas A. Mensah, Hanspeter Neuhold, Francisco Orrego Vicuña, W. Michael Reisman, Bruno Simma, Daniel Thürer, Christian Tomuschat, Tullio Treves, and Michael Wood. At the Max Planck Institute, the MPEPIL is supported by the Internal Legal Advisors: Ulrich Beyerlin, Isabel Feichtner, Clemens Feinäugle, Rainer Grote, Holger Hestermeyer, Michael Köbele, Nele Matz-Lück, Christiane Philipp, Anja Seibert-Fohr, Volker Röben, Nicola Wenzel and Silja Vöneky.
Past and present Legal Editors are: Sange Addison-Agyei, Freya Baetens, Antje Berger, Monique Bianchi, Ana Paula Costa Barbosa, John Dingfelder Stone, Angela Doul, Seth Ericsson, Julia Gebhard, Petra Hardraht, Moritz Holm-Hadulla, Timo Knäbe, Chie Kojima,
Maike Kuhn, Gilbert Leung, Emmanuelle Mantlik, Jakob Pichon, Isabel Röcker, Mylin Sapiera-Köbele, Charlotte Steinorth,
Bijan Tavakoli,
Katrin Tiroch, Johann-Christoph Woltag, and Dominik Zimmermann.
The MPEPIL relies on the support provided by the Secretaries Birgit Bürgy, Iris Füll and Margot Lintaller, Librarians Inge Bangert and Petra Weiler, and on the work of the Student Assistants:
Sanja von Beauvais, Daniela Fietze,
Alexander Foff, Miriam Freier, Ina Gätzschmann,
Christian Gerber, Lena Hagemann,
Anja Höfelmeier, Judith Junk, Sophie Kiladze, Carolin Kley, Katrin Kohoutek,
Lisa Kölsch, Jana Lohmann, Aleksandra Mazurek, Harald Niederstraßer, Ian Innocent Ogutu, Jan Polzer, Victoria Reuter, Herbert Rosenfeldt,
Eva Saarmann, Katharina Schaub, Alexander Schwarz, Katja Stockburger,
Nele Linn Yang, and Patrik Zamorano-Martinez.