Evangelos Raftopoulos

Founding Director of MEPIELAN Centre


Professor Emeritus of International Law
& International Environmental Law

Profile

 

Ph.D (Cantab), University of Cambridge

Evangelos Raftopoulos is Professor Emeritus of International Law & International Environmental Law, Panteion University of Athens, Greece, and the Founding Director of MEPIELAN Centre. He is also a Fellow, Cambridge Centre for Environment, Energy, and Natural Resource Governance (C-EENRG), University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (since 2016).,He has been elected as a Member of the Compliance Committee of the Barcelona Convention system (COP 21 of the Barcelona Convention, Napoli, Italy, 2-5 December 2019) and, recently, as Vice Chair of the Committee (18th Meeting of the Compliance Committee, Athens, Greece, 29-30 June 2022).
Under his Direction MEPIELAN CENTRE has become an officially accredited UNEP/MAP Partner (2013), a Member of the Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable Development (MCSD) (2016) and a Member of the MCSD Steering Committee (2019). He currently serves as a Rapporteur of the Steering Committee of the MCSD.
He has been a Visiting Scholar at Downing College, University of Cambridge (2015-2018), and the Director of the Postgraduate Programme Studies at the Department of International, European & Area Studies, Panteion University of Athens (2000-2018). He served, for more than two decades, as a special Legal Adviser to the Mediterranean Action Plan/United Nations Environment Programme (MAP/UNEP) (1987-2010), and was appointed as International Legal Adviser to the Greek Minister of Housing, Public Works and the Environment (1983-1985) and a Lawyer at the Athens Bar Association. He served as the founding Educational Counselor at the Institute of Continual Training, National Centre of Public Administration, Athens (1985-1993). As International Negotiator, he actively participated in more than 70 international environmental conferences and meetings since 1983.
Evangelos Raftopoulos holds a Doctor of Philosophy Degree in International Law from the University of Cambridge, UK, a Master Degree in International Law from the University of Cambridge, UK, and a Law Degree (First Class) from the Faculty of Law, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. He has been a Ford Foundation Southern European Fellow of International Law at the Yale Law School at Yale Law School, Yale University, USA (1980 – 1982).

Selected Publications

Books

 

  • International Negotiation: A Process of Relational Governance for International Common Interest Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2019.

  • International Negotiations: Theory and Technique of Constructing International Common Interest (in Greek), Nomiki Bibliothiki, Athens, 2014.

  • MEPIELAN E-BULLETIN, Editions 1-12, 2010-2019 (Editor and Contributor).

  • Conventional Environmental Governance and the Mediterranean or PLUS ULTRA (in Greek), Ant. N. Sakkoulas Publishers, Athens, 2006, Pp. xxii+376 *New Edition: Nomiki Bibliothiki, Athens, 2014.

  • Contributions to International Environmental Negotiation in the Mediterranean Context (E. Raftopoulos – M. McConnell, eds.), MEPIELAN Studies in International Environmental Law and Negotiation – 2, Ant. N. Sakkoulas – Bruylant Publishers, Athens, 2004 *New Edition: Nomiki Bibliothiki, Athens, 2014.

  • The New Regime of the Barcelona Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Environment – The Problem and the Texts of the Greek Translation (in Greek), MEPIELAN Studies in International Environmental Law and Negotiation – 1, Ant. N. Sakkoulas Publishers, Athens, 2003 *Second Edition, Nomiki Bibliothiki, Athens, 2015.

  • Course, Theory and Language of International Law – “Objectivity” or International Common Interest? (in Greek),Ant. N. Sakkoulas Publishers, Athens, 1997 *New Edition: Nomiki Bibliothiki, Athens, 2014.

  • Barcelona Convention and Protocols – The Mediterranean Action Plan Regime, Simmonds & Hill Publishing Ltd., London, 1993.

  • The Inadequacy of the Contractual Analogy in the Law of Treaties, Publications of the Hellenic Institute of International & Foreign Law, Vol. 14, Alkyon Publishers, Athens, 1990.

 

Articles & Book Chapters

 

  • Compliance Procedure: Barcelona Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea” (2019). In Hélène Ruiz Fabri (ed), Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Procedural Law (Oxford University Press 2019) <https://opil.ouplaw.com/home/mpil >
  • Conventional Environmental Governance in the Mediterranean and its Evolving Institutional and Fiduciary Aspects in a Pragmatic Perspective” (2016). 30 OCEAN YEARBOOK, pp. 129-173.
  • Theorizing about Conventional Environmental Sea-Regimes as International Trusts: The Case of the Barcelona Convention System” (2015). In: Contemporary Developments in International Law – Essays in Honour of Budislav Vukas (ed. by Rüdiger Wolfrum, Maja Seršić, Trpimir M. Šošić), Brill-Nijhoff, Leiden, Boston,  pp. 263-290.
  •  Sustainability Governance, Public Trust and the Conventional Protection of the Mediterranean Environment” (2013). In: Derecho Del Mar Y Sostenibilidad Ambiental En El Mediterráneo (ed. by José Juste Ruiz & Valentín Bou Franch), Tirant Lo Blanch, Valencia, 2013, Primera Parte, Aspectos Generales, pp. 35-58.

  • The Mediterranean Response to Global Challenges: Environmental Governance and  the Barcelona Convention  System” (2011). In: The World Ocean in Globalization – Climate Change, Sustainable Fisheries, Biodiversity,  Shipping, Regional Issues (ed. by Davor Vidas & Peter Johan Schei), Martinus Njhoff Publishers (Leiden – Boston), Chapter 27, pp. 507-532.

  • The Polluter Pays Principle and Agriculture in Greece” (2009). In: Agriculture and the Polluter Pays Principle (ed. by Peggy Grossman), British Institute of International and Comparative Law, London, chapter 3, pp. 61-145.

  • Language and the Application of International Environmental Agreements: The Significance of the Greek Translation” (in Greek) (2006). In: The International Community in Movement – Contributions to the Memory of George Tenekides (ed.by S. Perrakis), Panteion University, Ant. N. Sakkoulas Publishers, Athens-Komotini, pp. 329-347.
  • Conventional Environmental Governance and the Emerging Public Role of the Individual – The Mediterranean Perspective” (2006). Annuaire International des Droits de l’ Homme, Vol.1, 2006, Ant. N. Sakkoulas – Bruylant, 2006, pp. 299-324.

  • Multilateral Governance in the Emerging Regime of Maritime Security” (in Greek). Environment and Law, 2005/2, pp. 197-211.
  • Aspects of the Course of International Environmental Law from Stockholm to Johannesburg (1972-2002)” (in Greek).The Critical Review of Legal Theory and Practice, 2003/1, pp. 81-113.

  • “‘Relational Governance’ For Marine Pollution Incidents in the Mediterranean: Transformations, Development and Prospects” (2001). The International Journal of Marine & Coastal Law, Vol. 16, pp. 41-75.

  • The Crisis Over the Imia Rocks and the Aegean Sea Regime: International Law as a Language of Common Interest” (2000). In THE AEGEAN SEA AFTER THE COLD WAR – SECURITY AND LAW OF THE SEA ISSUES (ed. by A. Chircop, A. Gerolymatos and J. Iatrides), Macmillan Press Ltd. & St. Martin’s Press, Inc., Chap. 9, pp. 134-151.

  • Sustainable Development and the Mediterranean Action Plan Regime: Legal and Institutional Aspects” (1995). In: Regional Seas Towards Sustainable Development (ed. by Belfiore – Lucia – Pesaro), International Centre for Coastal and Ocean Policy Studies (ICCOPS) and International Geographical Union (IGU), Franco Angeli Publisher, Milan, Italy, 1995, pp. 197-229.

  • The Mediterranean Action Plan: Appraisal of a Model for Regional Cooperation” (1993). In: Protecting the Gulf of Aqaba – A Regional Environmental Challenge, Environmental Law Institute (ILA), Washington, D.C., Chapter 15, pp. 315-357.

  • The Barcelona Convention System for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea Against Pollution : An International Trust at Work”(1992).The International Journal of Estuarine and Coastal Law, Vol. 7, pp. 27-41.

  • The Mediterranean Action Plan: A Paradigm for Re-thinking International Law” (1990). In: Essays on the New Law of the Sea 2 – Contributions to the Study of Comparative & International Law (ed. by Budislav Vukas), Vol. 24, Zagreb, pp. 243-279.

Areas of Expertise

  • Theory, Methodology and Philosophy of Public International Law
  • Theory and Practice of Treaties
  • International Environmental Law and Governance
  • Mediterranean Environmental Law, Governance and Practice
  • Compliance
  • Sustainability Governance and Public Trust
  • Theory and Practice of International Creative Negotiation
  • International Environmental Negotiations
  • International Organizations
  • Drafting International Law Instruments

Activities

  • Member of the Compliance Committee of the Barcelona Convention system (2019-ongoing)
  • Rapporteur, Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable Development (MCSD), MAP/Barcelona Convention system (2019-ongoing)
  • Fellow, C-EENRG, University of Cambridge (2016-ongoing)