Alle Artikel von MPIL100

The Art of Academic Resilience in an Age of Intellectual Fragility.

MPIL100 Conversation with Juliane Kokott

“You don’t always have to be right immediately,” reflects Juliane Kokott—advice that feels radical in today’s academic climate. While today’s emerging scholars often feel compelled to retreat from intellectual risk, Kokott’s path from Max Planck researcher to Europe’s longest-serving Advocate General reveals what intellectual courage actually looks like.

Her story begins in 1980s Heidelberg, where academic debates were “crushing” affairs that could end careers. Yet Kokott learned to separate personal worth from intellectual criticism. “If someone thinks the view is wrong, you just discuss it with the next person,” she explains. Her approach of waiting, reflecting, and returning with stronger arguments contrasts sharply with today’s publish-or-perish anxiety and social media pile-ons, so often felt as oppressive burdens by today’s younger scholars.

From handwritten manuscripts to digital courtrooms, from being one of two women among thirty men to shaping European law through 500-plus judicial opinions, Kokott’s career shows that intellectual resilience isn’t about armor—it’s about staying curious when others quit.

In conversation with MPIL’s Robert Stendel and Philipp Glahé, Kokott reveals precious, seemingly forgotten techniques of academic survival and why the next generation desperately needs to relearn them.

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About Juliane Kokott

Juliane Kokott has carved an uncommon path from Heidelberg lecture halls to the bench of Europe’s highest court. A double-doctorate scholar with credentials from Harvard and Washington, she honed her comparative legal instincts during pivotal years at the Max Planck Institute for International Law, where she navigated country departments spanning Inter-American human rights to European Community law while becoming one of the first women to habilitate there.

She traded ivory-tower contemplation for frontline legal impact in 2003, when she became Advocate General at the Court of Justice of the European Union—only the third woman ever to hold the post and now its longest-serving voice. Her more than 500 influential opinions, spanning competition, tax and fundamental rights, are famed for crisp language and comparative depth rooted in her Max Planck training in empirical, cross-border legal analysis. Kokott balances scholarship—professorial stints across Germany and Switzerland, editorships and global tax projects—with a reputation for principled advocacy for gender equality. Colleagues call her the Court’s “comparative conscience,” a jurist who turns sprawling doctrine into pragmatic guidance for a rapidly integrating Europe.

A Legal-Academic Island During the 1968 Upheaval.

MPIL100 Conversation with Konrad Buschbeck

While students rioted in Heidelberg’s streets and police stormed lecture halls, Konrad Buschbeck spent nights on a leather sofa, keeping watch over the Institute’s precious library. “We lived in another world,” he recalls of the legal scholars who remained largely untouched by the 1968 upheaval raging just miles away.

From 1965-1970, Buschbeck inhabited this insulated academic haven—a tight-knit community of “male German jurists” where formal address was standard and soccer games fostered the only informality. The Institute’s researchers heard about protests like “war correspondents,” reporting back from the outside world while their own routines continued undisturbed.

This isolation reflected deeper patterns: a generation’s reluctance to confront the Nazi past of figures like Carl Schmitt, whose “fascinating” intellect Buschbeck had encountered firsthand. While revolution called for accountability, the Institute’s elite networks quietly prepared members for careers in government, diplomacy, and European institutions.

Buschbeck’s reflections reveal how academic privilege can create both opportunity and blind spots. His journey from this protected world to roles including Germany’s first Science Attaché to Poland illustrates the complex legacy of institutions that shaped postwar German elites while remaining largely detached from the social upheavals around them.

About Konrad Buschbeck

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Konrad Buschbeck is a retired German diplomat and legal scholar who bridged law, science policy, and international relations. Born in 1938, he earned his doctorate at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law (1965-1970) under Professor Karl Doehring.

His career exemplified the Institute’s “revolving door” function, transitioning from academia to high-level government roles. He served as legal counsel for the German Red Cross on Geneva Convention reforms and held positions in the Federal Ministry for Education and Research, Germany’s EU representation during enlargement.

His capstone role was as Germany’s first Science Attaché to Poland (post-1989), where he orchestrated the first official visit of a Max Planck Society president to Poland, advancing bilateral scientific cooperation during post-Cold War reconciliation. He received the Foundation for Polish Science’s Honorary Distinction for fostering German-Polish ties.

From Terrorism to AI: Legal Scholarship in Changing Times.

MPIL100 Conversation with Silja Vöneky

“As a scholar, one is committed to truth,” says Professor Silja Vöneky—a guiding principle throughout her two decades at the intersection of law and ethics. Beginning at Heidelberg’s Max Planck Institute in 1995 with environmental law, Vöneky’s focus pivoted dramatically after 9/11. She controversially argued that the Geneva Conventions might apply to terrorism if state involvement could be proven.

Her career spans international law, bioethics, and most recently, the legal regulation of artificial intelligence—always prioritizing rigorous, principled debate over political convenience. Vöneky’s impact isn’t just academic: she’s brought theory into practice as a peace negotiator in Sudan and expert in Antarctic treaty talks.

In conversation with MPIL’s Silvia Steininger, Vöneky reflects on how academia itself has changed: from hierarchical meetings to more collaborative, interdisciplinary work. Her story illustrates the ongoing challenge for scholars—upholding foundational principles while adapting to a rapidly changing world.

The Interview was conducted in January 2025.

About Silja Vöneky

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Professor Silja Vöneky is one of Germany’s most influential legal scholars at the crossroads of international law, ethics, and technology. As a judge on the Constitutional Court of Baden-Württemberg and Professor at the University of Freiburg, she has shaped thinking on the legal and ethical governance of AI and biotechnology. Vöneky’s career began with environmental law and expanded to global legal responses to terrorism after 9/11, where her rigorous, independent approach advanced the application of humanitarian principles. She has chaired major ethics councils, led interdisciplinary research from German and international platforms, and is known for bridging law, philosophy, and technical innovation. Her commitment to public service, mentorship, and truth has established her as a leading voice on how democracies confront the legal challenges brought about by rapid scientific and technological change.

A Life at International Law’s Crossroads.

MPIL100 Conversation with Jochen Frowein

In this MPIL100 Conversation with Philipp Glahé and Robert Stendel, director emeritus Jochen Abr. Frowein recounts his history at the Institute, as senior research fellow and director, and the front-row seat to history his positions afforded him—from advising on Willy Brandt’s groundbreaking Ostpolitik treaties in Moscow and Warsaw to steering the European Commission of Human Rights through turbulent times. He delves into legal-intellectual battles at the Max Planck Institute, where his controversial thesis on the GDR as a “de facto regime” challenged orthodoxies and helped pave the way for German reunification. With candor, Frowein reflects on bridging academia and diplomacy, offering a master class on the ways principled scholarship can reshape nations and norms.

About Jochen Abr. Frowein

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Professor Jochen Frowein is one of Germany’s leading experts in public international and constitutional law. Director of the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law (MPIL) from 1981 through 2002 and professor at Uni Heidelberg, he authored over 400 publications, including standard references on the European Convention on Human Rights and the status of aliens in law.

Beyond academia, Frowein shaped policy as a negotiator of the 1970 Moscow and Warsaw Treaties and as a longtime member and Vice-President of the European Commission of Human Rights. He also served as Vice-President of both the German Research Foundation and the Max Planck Society, and was a member of the EU “Three Wise Men” tasked with assessing Austrian sanctions in 2000.

Frowein’s global recognition includes election to the Institut de Droit international, vice-presidency of the International Commission of Jurists, several honorary doctorates, and Germany’s Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit.