The Failures of the NATO Summit and the Future of Peace
How European Leaders’ Obsequiousness Threatens Europe’s Security and Undermines International Law
Articles for author: Mattias Kumm
Das Versagen des NATO-Gipfels und die Zukunft des Friedens
Warum die Unterwürfigkeit Europas seine Sicherheit und das Völkerrecht untergräbt
“Never Again”
“Never again” is, first and foremost, a story. It’s a story about our collective fears, anxieties, and aspirations, those moments and events that we have promised ourselves that will never be repeated. The Jewish story is interwoven with the Holocaust—the killing of six million Jews in Europe and the urgency of the re-establishment of a Jewish state to solve the problem of Jewish homelessness. Yet the constitutional and international meaning of “never again” depends on one’s position and point of view, and it changes over time. The chain reaction that began with the horrors of WWII continues to drive constitutional and international agendas. It is clear that “history talks,” but in which direction?
Gegen obrigkeitsstaatliche Tendenzen in der Krise
Als Korrelat zur krisenbedingten Rechtfertigung von Grundrechtseingriffen ergibt sich aus dem Prinzipiencharakter der Grundrechte eine Schutzpflicht des Staates, im Rahmen des Möglichen und nach Maßgabe dessen, was erforderlich und verhältnismäßig ist, eine Situation herbeizuführen, in der die Beschränkungen wieder aufgehoben werden können. Wenn das richtig sein sollte, hat das auch wichtige Konsequenzen für die Art und Weise, in der Diskussionen über die Lockerung der Coronamaßnahmen geführt werden sollten und nach welchen Maßstäben die Arbeit der Regierung/en sinnvollerweise beurteilt wird.
„Trump ist nicht das Problem, sondern nur ein Symptom“
Das Impeachment-Verfahren gegen Donald Trump, warum es scheitern musste und welche Schäden es hinterlässt: ein Interview mit Mattias Kumm.
How populist authoritarian nationalism threatens constitutionalism or: Why constitutional resilience is a key issue of our time
The problem with movements and parties spearheaded by “populist” leaders such as Putin, Erdoğan, Orbán, Kaczyński or Trump is not that they happen to embrace more nationally focused policies that metropolitan elites widely condemn as unjust, ineffective or otherwise misguided. Nor is the problem that they embrace a confrontational political style and uncouth rhetoric at odds with the mores of reflexively enlightened society in political capitals across liberal constitutional democracies. Neither of those features would constitute a constitutional threat justifying sustained reflections on constitutional resilience. The problem with electoral successes of populist authoritarian nationalists is that they pose a fundamental threat to liberal constitutional democracy.
Demokratie als verfassungsfeindlicher Topos
Demokratie wird im Diskurs der Gegenwart von populistisch-autoritären Nationalisten gegen die Errungenschaften des offenen freiheitlich demokratischen Verfassungsstaats in Stellung gebracht. Im Zentrum steht dabei die pluralismusfeindliche Idee eines einheitlichen Volkswillens, der alleinige Grundlage politischer Legitimität sein soll. Diese Idee erklärt vier problematische anti-konstitutionelle Merkmale national-autoritärer Ideologien.
„A Roguish and Unpopular President is potentially an Occasion for the Judiciary to Shine“
Will Democrats be able to block Neil Gorsuch's confirmation as Supreme Court Justice, and how will it affect the Court if they won't? Mattias Kumm on the latest developments in the nomination process and the judiciary's role in holding the Trump administration in check.
Filling the Vacancy left by Scalia: The Democratic Virtues of Delay
If Republicans delayed the procedure or refused to vote on any nominee Obama puts forward, would they violate their constitutional responsibilities, as Democrats insist? In the end I don´t think so. On the contrary: I will argue that there are good grounds of constitutional principle that make delaying the appointment an attractive proposition.
Verfassungsblog Enters into Partnership with WZB’s Center for Global Constitutionalism
The Center for Global Constitutionalism at the Berlin Social Science Center (WZB) has joined Wissenschaftskolleg/Recht im Kontext as a strong institutional partner of the Verfassungsblog. Together, we are looking forward to build on the blog´s achievement and further strengthen its position as a leading forum of debate on topical questions of national, European and global constitutionalism, fostering exchange between academic expert knowledge and the political public sphere, while consolidating Berlin’s reputation as a place where cutting edge research on pressing contemporary public law questions is conducted and exciting debates at the interface between law, politics and society are launched.
