Fellow: Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa
Academic Coordinator: RefLex Center for Advanced Studies, Humboldt University Berlin
PhD, LLM (German University of Administrative Sciences, MSc (London School of Economics and Political Science), First and Second State Examinations in Law (Munich and Berlin)
ORCID
johannes.socher@hu-berlin.de
Expertise:Comparative Constitutional Law, Public International Law, Transitional Justice, Rule of Law, Criminal Justice, European Law and German Public Law.
Links
- Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?authuser=1&user=H4IC3gEAAAAJ
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johannes-socher
- BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/jsocher.bsky.social
Select Publications:
Books
- Constitutionalisation of Political Parties and the State of Democracy, Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2025 (co-edited with Charles Fombad), https://doi.org/10.5771/9783748963165.
- Russia and the Right to Self-Determination in the Post-Soviet Space, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192897176.001.0001.
- Praxis der Richtlinienumsetzung im Europäischen Verwaltungsverbund, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 2020 (co-edited with Cristina Fraenkel-Haeberle and Karl-Peter Sommermann), https://doi.org/10.3790/978-3-428-58029-3.
Journal Articles and Book Chapters
- Constitutionalisation of Political Parties, Multipartyism and Political Opposition in Anglophone Eastern Africa, World Comparative Law 57 (2024) 560–577, https://doi.org/10.5771/0506-7286-2024-4-560.
- Symbolic Popular Participation in Constitution-Making in Francophone Africa, African Journal of International and Comparative Law 32 (2024) 558–574 (with Charles Fombad), https://doi.org/10.3366/ajicl.2024.0505.
- African Truth Commissions Addressing Colonial Legacies, in Pilisano Masake and Florian Jeßberger (eds), International Criminal Law and the Legacy of Colonialism: An African Perspective, Berlin: Humboldt University (2024) 105–124, https://doi.org/10.18452/31458.
- Assistance to Constitutional Courts in Fragile Contexts: The Case of Mali, 2017–2022, World Comparative Law 56 (2023) 241–256, https://doi.org/10.5771/0506-7286-2023-1-241.
- Enhancing Access to Justice through Donor-Led Legal Aid Initiatives: International Normative Framework, Practical Approaches, and Some Findings from the Field, Law and Development Review 15 (2022) 1–22, https://doi.org/10.1515/ldr-2021-0144.
- Farewell to the European Constitutional Tradition: The 2020 Russian Constitutional Amendments, Heidelberg Journal of International Law 80 (2020) 615–648, https://www.zaoerv.de/80_2020/80_2020_3_a_615_648.pdf.
- Lenin, (Just) Wars of National Liberation, and the Soviet Doctrine on the Use of Force, Journal of the History of International Law 19 (2017) 219–245, https://doi.org/10.1163/15718050-19231018.
Blog Posts
- Voting from Abroad Ahead of Germany’s 2025 Snap Election: Practical Challenges and Legal Implications of Non-Resident Voting from a Comparative Perspective, Verfassungsblog, 6 February 2025, https://verfassungsblog.de/ahead-of-germanys-2025-snap-election (with Raphaël Girard).
- Know Your Enemy and Know Yourself: On the Continuing Relevance of Analysing Russian Approaches to International Law, Völkerrechtsblog, 13 June 2024, https://voelkerrechtsblog.org/de/know-your-enemy-and-know-yourself/
- Farewell to the European Constitutional Tradition: The 2020 Russian Constitutional Amendments, Verfassungsblog, 2 July 2020, https://verfassungsblog.de/farewell-to-the-european-constitutional-tradition.
