Akram Abdel Monem

Institution: Universität Hamburg/ HafenCity University Hamburg

Period of stay: 28 September – 12 December 2026

Contact: akram.m.abdelmonem@gmail.com / https://www.linkedin.com/in/akrammohamed50/

https://www.cliccs.uni-hamburg.de/research/people-register/abdelmonem.h…

Profile: 

Akram is a PhD researcher in International Law at the University of Hamburg, based within the CLICCS II (Climate, Climatic Change, and Society) research project, a joint project involving Universität Hamburg and HafenCity University Hamburg. He holds an MA in International Human Rights Law from The American University in Cairo, and an LLM and LLB from Mansoura University. Before pursuing his PhD, he worked as a teaching assistant at Mansoura University, and later served as a prosecutor and judge in the Egyptian Judiciary.

Research Area:

climate change; investment regime; fragmentation; law and political economy

Research Title:

Climate Justice, Global Power Asymmetries, and Fragmentation of International Law: A Critical Law and Political Economy Approach (LPE)

Research Outline:

The research examines the fragmentation between International Investment Law and International Environmental Law, drawing on Law and Political Economy (LPE) and TWAIL to interrogate how the two regimes have developed along divergent doctrinal paths.

Centering the public/private distinction as an analytical diagnostic lens and distributive justice as a normative anchor, the research traces the historical and structural mechanisms by which investment protection has been insulated from environmental and developmental accountability. The project engages case studies from ISDS, strategic climate litigation, and the historical emergence of investment law, situating these within broader debates on regime fragmentation in international law.

In Lauterpacht Centre, I will be working on thesis chapters addressing Global South norm creation and environmental justice, including a case study on Common but Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR) and the extent to which the Global South could exert meaningful normative influence within global governance fragmented structures.

Drawing on Cecilia Jacob's framework of "regulatory contestation," the research analyzes the institutional fragmentation between the UNFCCC's Financial and Technology Mechanisms, asking whether ongoing contestation over the linkages between them has enhanced or eroded CBDR's normativity. The project argues that such contestation, while not guaranteeing stronger normativity on its own, performs a crucial governance function by keeping underlying normative questions politically salient.

Publications:

- Fragmentation Remains Out There, (https://voelkerrechtsblog.org/fragmentation-remains-out-there/)

- Reconsidering CBDR within the Trajectory of Global South Development and Climate Governance: A Tale of Survival and Stalemate, (forthcoming in a special issue of the Global South Rising Symposium, The Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria)

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