Dr. Ziv Bohrer

Dr. Ziv Bohrer is a Senior Lecturer at Bar-Ilan University Faculty of Law. His main research field is Public International Law, with an emphasis on researching both current and historical issues relating to International Humanitarian Law (Law of War) and to International Criminal Law. In recent years, he has been researching (among other things) the forgotten, centuries-long, pre-WW2 history of International Criminal Law. Dr. Bohrer holds bachelor degrees in law and in psychology from Haifa University (2002), and a LL.M. (cum laude; 2007), as well as a Ph.D. in law (2011) from Tel-Aviv University. His doctoral dissertation addressed the Superior Order Defense in International Criminal Law, as well as in Domestic-Comparative Criminal Law, examining the issue both from a legal-doctrinal perspective and from several different (multi-disciplinary) theoretical perspectives.

Ziv was a Visiting Scholar at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg, Germany (2019-2020); at Cambridge University Law Faculty, UK (2017), and at Michigan University Law School, USA (2011-2012). He also was a Research Fellow at the Hebrew University - Sacher Institute for Legislative Research and Comparative Law (2012-2013), and a Visiting Lecturer at University of Georgia (UGA) Law School (2015).

Dr. Bohrer has published in various academic journals, including: Law & History Review, and Michigan Journal of International Law.

During 2020, Ziv published two books. One book, co-authored with Janina Dill (Oxford University) and Helen Duffy (Leiden University), examines the international law applicable to armed conflict. The book was initiated by the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, as part of a book series project, led and edited by Prof. Anna Peters (Institute Co-Director) and Dr. Christian Marxsen (also from the Max Planck Institute), who selected the authors based on scholarly merits. The book was published by Cambridge University Press: Ziv Bohrer, Janina Dill & Helen Duffy, Law Applicable to Armed Conflict – Part II of Max Planck Trialogues on the Law of War and Peace (Cambridge University Press, Anne Peters & Christian Marxsen eds., 2020). The second book constitutes the most comprehensive doctrinal research made thus far of the Israeli law pertaining to the Superior Order Defense: Ziv Bohrer, The Superior Order Defense and Manifestly Unlawful Orders in Israeli Law (Isr. M.o.D. Press, I. Fine ed., intro. by M. Kremnitzer, 2020) [in Hebrew].

Dr. Bohrer was elected, based on scholarly excellence, to be a member of the 2020-2021 Humanities and Social Sciences Young Scholar Forum of The Israel Academy of Sciences. The forum topic is: "Racism, Anti-Semitism, Genocide: The Holocaust in its Historical, Ideological and Cultural Contexts".

Ziv was awarded various scholarships, grants and honors, including: a Max Planck Institute Grant (2020), a DAAD Scholarship (2019), a Bar-Ilan Rector Grant (as part of a group) for Interdisciplinary Research Groups (2018), an Israel's Junior Law Faculty Workshop Paper Competition Prize (2017), a Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellowship (2011), a Wolf Foundation Doctorate Student Scholarship for Excellence (2010), and a Meitar Fellowship (2009) [valedictorian].

Dr. Bohrer is a member of the Academic Advisory Board of the Journal of the History of International Law. The other board members are: Professor Kinji Akashi (Kyushu University), Professor and former ECHR President Rudolf Bernhardt (Max Planck Institute), Professor Annabel Brett (Cambridge University), Professor Anthony Carty (University of Tsinghua), Professor Tamar Herzog (Harvard University), Professor Martti Koskenniemi (University of Helsinki), Professor Lauri Mälksoo (University of Tartu), Professor Samuel Moyn (Yale University), Professor Luigi Nuzzo (Università del Salento), Professor Liliana Obregón (Universidad de los Andes), Professor Sundhya Pahuja (University of Melbourne), Professor Miloš Vec (Vienna University).

Prior to going into Academia, Ziv Bohrer served his mandatory military service at the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) Military Advocate General Corps (2002-2006); first as a Legal Officer for Instruction and Research at the IDF School of Military Law, and later as the Legal Advisor of the Center for the Employment of IDF Civilian Workers. In 2005, he was awarded a Military Advocate General Certificate of Excellence.

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