The exercise of public authority at the international, supranational and state levels: A public law reconstruction of governance in the multi-level system

Project management: Prof. Dr. Armin von Bogdandy

The project “The exercise of public authority at the international, supranational and state level” examines the governance of international and European institutions and their respective courts from a legal perspective. These institutions sometimes have a very strong impact on state action or even on individuals. This raises the question of the extent to which their legal framework must or is already approaching the principles that are decisive for the exercise of state power.
Within the framework of the cluster, the sub-project contributes a specific jurisprudential perspective that aims to develop legal dogmatic concepts. It is open to the normative and empirical analysis of other cluster projects. Their findings help the dogmatic conceptualization to adequately grasp the impact and normative significance of new governance phenomena. Conversely, dogmatic conceptualization can serve other disciplines as a foil for descriptions of reality.
An intensive discussion process between Armin von Bogdandy, Matthias Goldmann and Ingo Venzke resulted in a basic text (Bogdandy, Goldmann and Venzke 2017) for researching particular subject areas. Several workshops, a habilitation and three dissertations have demonstrated the potential of this approach in the areas of international financial, labor and refugee law as well as food security. Discussion events in Frankfurt and Heidelberg presented the approach to a broad public with reference to TTIP and the sovereign debt crisis in Greece.
The concept of international public authority has been successfully developed further, thereby laying a conceptual and theoretical foundation for legal research into the relationship between state and supranational legal systems and between private and public law. The approach provides important impulses for the research landscape, as can be seen from the significantly increased interest in the term “authority” at workshops and conferences, where the concepts offered by the cluster project often play a central role. The omnipresent criticism of globalization phenomena also underlines the practical relevance of the project. Some project members have incorporated the results into their consultancy work for international organizations.

The most important events in this project:

Panel discussion: What is law in TTIP?, Armin von Bogdandy in conversation with State Secretary Alexander Lorz (Stadtgespräch series of the Cluster of Excellence “The Formation of Normative Orders”), Historisches Museum, Frankfurt am Main, November 10, 2015.

Workshop: In Whose Name? A Public Law Theory on International Adjudication , Asser Institute, The Hague, September 8, 2015.

Workshop: Democracy and the Financial Order: Legal Perspectives (in cooperation with the German Law Journal), Keynote: Henrik Enderlein (Hertie School of Governance, Berlin), Cluster of Excellence “The Formation of Normative Orders”, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, September 2-3, 2015.

Panel discussion: Hellas’ future? Greece and Europe after the Referendum (with Armin von Bogdandy, Achilles Scordas, Michalis Ioannidis and Matthias Goldmann), DAI Heidelberg, July 16, 2015.

Workshop: IPA (International Public Authority) Meets Dissidence (interdisciplinary workshop with Nicole Deitelhoff’s working group), Cluster of Excellence “The Formation of Normative Orders”, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, April 4, 2014.

The most important publications in this project:

von Bogdandy, Armin/Matthias Goldmann/Ingo Venzke: “From Public International to International Public Law: Translating World Public Opinion into International Public Authority”, in: European Journal of International Law 28(1), 2017, pp. 115-145.

von Bogdandy, Armin: Pondering Schmitt’s Concept of the Political for International Public Authority: On Methods, Standards and Disciplinary Settings for Public Law Theory, MPIL Research Paper No. 2016-22, 2016.

Goldmann, Matthias and Silvia Steininger: “A Discourse Theoretical Approach to Sovereign Debt Restructuring: Towards a Democratic Financial Order”, in: German Law Journal 17(5), 2016, pp. 709-746.

Goldmann, Matthias: Internationale öffentliche Gewalt, Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer, 2015.

von Bogdandy, Armin and Ingo Venzke: In Whose Name? International Courts in Times of Global Governance, Berlin: Suhrkamp, 2014. English translation: In Whose Name?, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.

people in this project:

Project management / contact person

von Bogdandy, Armin, Prof. Dr.

Project staff

Bagchi, Canada

Ebert, Franz Christian, LLM

Goldmann, Matthias, Jun.-Prof. Dr.

Schmalz, Dana

Schmidt, Matthias

Soley, Ximena

Steinbrück Platise, Mateja, Dr.

Steininger, Silvia Karin, LL.M. (Amsterdam), BA

Vierck, Leonie

Villarreal, Pedro

Vischer, Benedict

Ziebritzki, Catharina