Joshua Kriesmann

Institution: Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz

Period of stay: 23 September - 12 December 2025

Contact: jkriesma@uni-mainz.de

https://linkedin.com/in/joshua-kriesmann-4b855712a

Profile: 

Joshua Kriesmann pursues a PhD project at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Andreas Kulick, LL.M. (NYU), funded by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. After studying law in Berlin, London and Washington, D.C., with a scholarship of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation, Joshua earned an LL.M. (International Legal Studies) from Georgetown University. At Georgetown, he received the Thomas B. Chetwood SJ Prize for the most outstanding academic performance in his program, and served as Articles Advisor to the Georgetown Journal of International Law. He has worked for a Member of the International Law Commission, the UN Special Rapporteur on Toxics and Human Rights, as well as the International Arbitration and Antitrust & Competition practice groups at a large international law firm.

Research Area:

Compensation in International Law

Research Title:

Economic Capacity as a Limit to Full Compensation

Research Outline:

Joshua Kriesmann’s dissertation investigates exceptions to the obligation to provide full compensation in international law. With a particular eye on jus ad bellum & jus in bello, international environmental & climate law, and international investment law, his work delineates theoretical criticisms of and doctrinal exceptions to the principle of full reparation. Importantly, he focuses on exceptions that are based on the economic capacity which the responsible state requires to fulfill certain international obligations. Outlining both direct and indirect exceptions to the obligation to make full compensation, the work engages with the law of state responsibility, the interaction of primary and secondary rules of international law, circumstances precluding wrongfulness as well as general and specific mechanisms for enforcing compensatory adjudicatory decisions. In this context, Joshua’s thesis clarifies that the principle of full reparation is not an absolute rule of international law but a permeable principle of law that may, at times, allow for less-than-full-compensation and postponed compensation. Further, in areas of law where the principle is not applicable, economic capacity considerations may make pertinent compensation obligations (partly) unenforceable.

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