Strangers, Adversaries, Enemies
On party bans, on constitutional courts as tools and objects of political pressure, and on the various ways Muslim dress codes for girls and women further the evolution of constitutional law in Europe.
Articles for category: Newsletter
Us and Them
On racial profiling, on what is part of Europe and what is not, and on apes in cages.
Cleaning up after 2016
The end of this year of 2016 draws close, and relief about that fact, ill-founded as it may be, is palpable wherever I go. It has been a rough ride for constitutionalists, and we all deserve some days of rest and peace, if we can afford it. Therefore, I will spare you with seasonal reviews and reflections on these almost consistently dreadful twelve months past and highlight only one fact hopefully suitable to lift your spirits a bit: Since Brexit, support for European integration has jumped by 5 percent throughout the EU and by 7 percent in the UK.
Freedom of Assembly in Poland: Next in Line?
Public protest seems to be the best hope civil society now has in Poland against its increasingly authoritarian government. It would be only consequent that the the next obstacle to their power for the Law and Justice party to dismantle would be the right to freedom of assembly.
Christmas Showdown in Poland
Something decidedly un-christmasy is going on right now in Poland. On Thursday, I have talked to a person close to the ongoing conflict about the Polish Constitutional Tribunal on the phone, and here is what I have learnt:
On Dreams and Nightmares
As the "Eurocrat's Dream" has ended, what have we woken up to? Since the very noteworthy collection of essays under title "The End of the Eurocrat's Dream", edited by CHRISTIAN JOERGES, DAMIEN CHALMERS and MARCUS JACHTENFUCHS, has appeared this spring, the waking-life reality in Europe and beyond has taken on a decidedly nightmarish character.
The Lure of the New Normal
No-one can remain in a constant state of exception, that would be a contradiction in terms. Any emergency that goes on for too long becomes somewhat normal over time. If things refuse to get less terrifying, all we can do is raise our level of terrification, isn't it? Donald Trump will let a White Supremacists' media darling shape his political strategies – but hey: he deserves a chance, right? Austria is weeks away from falling into the hands of the far-right populists, with other European countries lining up behind it – but please, let's not overreact, maybe we are all just out of touch with what ordinary people think and feel?
Week #1 after Trump
I will not bore you with yet another account of how stunned I still am and how I shake in my booths now and so forth. We all do, I suppose. The world has changed over night, quite literally. And the world we woke up in on Wednesday morning appears to be a far less habitable place for liberal constitutionalists who believe that state and society should respect human dignity, protect the vulnerable, overcome discrimination and impose on their own power those legal restraints that empower them in the first place. How could this happen? What did we do wrong? What can we do now? Shall we stand our ground or adapt?
CETA, Trump and „Enemies of the People“
What a week… On Thursday, the High Court of Justice in England and Wales has ruled that the UK government cannot push the Brexit button all by itself but has to involve Parliament instead. In reaction to that, the British tabloid press has revealed what stuff parts of the Brexit movement are actually made of. My thoughts about the instantly notorious North-Korean-style „Enemies of the People“ headline of the Daily Mail and what this, as part of a larger phenomenon of rampant anti-constitutional populism, bodes for the future of constitutional democracy is here (and, in German, here). The High Court ... continue reading
