Articles for tag: Asyl, Direct Effect, Europarecht, liberal Democracy, Migration, Populism

Disapplication Unbound

Legal scholars welcomed the Apace ruling by the CJEU as a “total victory” for liberals supporting human rights and the independence of the judiciary. But the ruling has two central faut lines: it fails to acknowledge that Article 37 APD is not unconditional: its direct effect is, at best, dubious. Second, in Member States like Italy, where the judiciary makes extensive use of disapplication in asylum matters, the laissez-faire approach of the CJEU paves the way for legal uncertainty and exposes judges to populist attacks.

4. September 2025

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Von Symbolen, moralischen Artefakten und Strohmann-Debatten

Strafrechtliche Begriffe wie „Clan-Kriminalität“, „Beleidigung“ und „Genozid“ werden in der politischen Rhetorik entkernt, emotional aufgeladen und als Kampfbegriffe eingesetzt. Juristische Präzision weicht moralischer Polarisierung, wodurch gefährliche Ambivalenzen entstehen und gesellschaftliche Spaltungen vertieft werden. Das Strafrecht wird so zum Instrument politischer Agenda und verliert an fachlicher Schärfe. Notwendig ist eine bewusste Abwehr von Zweckentfremdung und eine Sensibilität für die Wirkmacht strafrechtlicher Sprache.

14. August 2025

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Turkey’s Gerontocratic Constitutional Moment

In less than a year, Turkish politics has undergone a profound realignment. It began in October 2024 with a remarkable speech by Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and President Erdoğan’s chief coalition partner. In one of the most cryptic U-turns of his career, Bahçeli—long a hardliner on the Kurdish question—proposed reopening the long-frozen peace process with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the separatist armed group that has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state. In short, the tectonic plates of Turkish politics are shifting, and at the center of this transition stands a cast of aging men, each well past seventy.

14. Juli 2025

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Mehr Territorialität wagen im Wahlrecht

Die heiß diskutierte und in Karlsruhe nachgebesserte Wahlrechtsreform der einstigen Ampelparteien konnte Ende Februar ihre Feuertaufe bestehen. Jetzt also, da das neue Wahlrecht ausgeurteilt und ausprobiert worden ist, dass es die Prüfung der Gerichte und die der tatsächlichen Anwendung durch 60,5 Millionen Wahlberechtigte überstanden hat, steht die noch gewichtigere Prüfung aus, die des Kairós, der inhaltlichen Richtigkeit in Anbetracht des historischen Zeitpunktes.

13. März 2025

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Austria’s Populist Turn

With the elections in September 2024, the populist Freedom Party (FPÖ) became the strongest party in Austria for the first time. In January 2025, hopes of averting populism quickly faded when Austria’s Federal President Alexander van der Bellen was left with no choice other than giving the FPÖ a mandate to form a government. In this context, two aspects stand out: the role of constitutional conventions in recent months and the political change in the Bundesländer (states).

16. Januar 2025

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Populismus und Plebiszit

Im kleinsten deutschsprachigen Staat, dem Fürstentum Liechtenstein, war der Einfluss rechtspopulistischer Parteien bisher überschaubar. Doch in letzter Zeit scheinen populistische Akteure in dem alpinen Kleinstaat einen Hebel entdeckt zu haben: die direkte Demokratie. Seit 2020 gab es bereits zwölf Abstimmungen, davon allein sechs im Jahr 2024. Gerade aus einer parlamentarischen Minderheitsposition heraus instrumentalisieren rechtspopulistische Kräfte direktdemokratische Verfahren, wenn ihnen entsprechende Möglichkeiten zur Verfügung stehen.

14. Oktober 2024

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Drop Bothsideism

Western media are not equipped to handle right-wing populists like Donald Trump, Orbán, or the AfD. Moreover, constitutional theorists who argue that democracy should be purely procedural are joining the populist chorus. In our current age of populism we keep telling ourselves that everyone’s voice is always equally valid – also when based on lies and disinformation. It’s just another “point of view”. What populism has undermined is the right but also the courage to call out those who deliberately spread lies as well as those who in doing so openly use democratic institutions to destroy democracy.

11. Oktober 2024

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What is Living and What is Dead in the Turkish Parliament?

On January 30th, 2024, the Turkish Parliament officially revoked the mandate of Can Atalay, an opposition MP representing the earthquake-affected city of Hatay. Atalay's incident, from its inception to the recent parliamentary drama, not only exposes the diminished authority of the Constitutional Court but also exemplifies the tacit cooperation among the regime's loyal officers—judges, MPs, or civil servants. In this subtle network, the Parliament occupies a peculiar place with its distinct symbolism, serving as a fig leaf for authoritarian politics.

13. März 2024

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How the War in Gaza May Upend Israel’s Constitutional Limbo

The war in Gaza serves, this blog post argues, as the final nail in the coffin of Netanyahu's judicial overhaul. The Israeli political climate, relentless opposition and the political fallout after Hamas' surprise attack on Israel and the current war thwarted the judicial overhaul. However, populism is far from overcome. Therefore, the current failed judicial overhaul remains a warning sign for the democracy-seeking public in Israel and should raise demand for constitutional entrenchment of the democratic values of the Israeli state. As the judicial overhaul of 2023 has shown us – democracy is not safe if it hangs by the thread of a simple majority in parliament.

9. November 2023

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