Liberalism, Perfectionism, and Civic Virtue

This paper explores the question whether perfectionism amounts to a political doctrine that is more attractive than liberalism. I try to show that an egalitarian liberalism that is open to questions of value and that holds a conception of limited neutrality can meet the perfectionist challenge. My thesis is that liberalism can be reconciled easily with perfectionism read as a moral doctrine. Perfectionism as a political doctrine equall stays within the value framework of liberalism. Finally, I try to show that liberalism can give an account of civic virtue that is a sufficient basis for developing the normative guidelines of a rich and meaningful social life

Freezing the State out of the Market: the Three Degrees of State Incapacity in Europe

This Paper argues that the demarcations of public power arrived at in EC competition law by the Court and the Commission, while sensitive to State prerogatives, reveal a picture of State incapacity rather than capacity; freezing the state out of the market rather than deliberating any, however attractive, subtle balance of constitutionalised private governance. We progress from a review of the place of competition within the Treaty and a broader consideration of the policy framework (Section I). Attention then turns to what are identified as the three degrees of State Incapacity: (1) the State’s regulatory role (Section II); (2) the state and the exercise of the public authority function (Section III); (3) elaborating the public interest in the provision of services of general economic interest (Section IV)

Law as a Precondition for Religious Freedom

Throughout history, people have suffered for the sake of their religion. Religious organisations have been forbidden or governments have tightly controlled them. The constitutional protection of freedom of religion is a necessity. In a religiously pluralistic world, granting the guarantee is also in the state’s best interest. Yet religions have been hesitant to embrace the guarantee. It implies secularism. Religious freedom is balanced against other freedoms, and against legitimate state interests. Government is faced with social forces that are grounded in eternity and that cannot be proven to be wrong. Seemingly the constitutional protection is a threatening for religions and the state as it is beneficial. Yet the essentially pragmatic nature of law overcomes the tragic dilemma – albeit only at the price of acknowledging that jurisprudence is policy-making.religions freedom, neutrality principle, human rights, pragmatism, proportionality principle, balancing, margin of appreciation, regulability

Through the Looking Glass: \u3cem\u3eDer Spiegel’s\u3c/em\u3e Presentation of America’s Image in the Iraq War

Der Spiegel, the weekly German news magazine, offered extensive coverage of the beginnings of the Iraq War. The magazine blended historical fact and cinematic and historical comparisons to present its decidedly negative view of the conflict. The twofold purpose of this thesis is to illuminate the German attitudes towards the war and the American culture from which it sprang and to explore some of the comparisons and metaphors and the visuals used to communicate this viewpoint. The intent is to examine the gap between the abstract position the magazine expresses and the wider scope of meaning created by the metaphors and visuals. Chapter I concentrates on the magazine\u27s presentation of a perceived history of failures on the part of the American CIA and the manner in which this is combined with allusions to the Rambo image. Through the use of the Rambo figure and other references to film characters (James Bond), the magazine suggests that both U.S. leaders such as George W. Bush and the population at large are victims of their own cinematic myths and vastly overestimate their own capacity to determine the world\u27s fate. Sharply contrasting portraits of two CIA agents who were casualties of the war, Alabama born Michael Spann and German born Helge Philipp Boes, cast the American as an inept blunderer and the German as an idealistic and sensitive defender of Western freedoms. Chapter II concerns the way in which historical comparisons are used to illuminate the conflict. The magazine suggests that the U.S. is an empire in decline. The very heterogeneous selection of examples offered in defense of this argument (e.g. the Roman, British, and Soviet empires) all spring from material that would be familiar to German readers. They offer cursory and arguably superficial analogies to explain today\u27s complex situation. Part II of the chapter explores the use of images from 20th century history, particularly World War II, to explain events. Very often the comparisons seem overblown and particularly inappropriate (e.g. Stalingrad and the Battle of Baghdad; the bombing of Dresden and the bombing of Baghdad). Rhetorically the magazine sometimes distances itself from these questionable analogies by attributing them to others (anonymous observers ). Such comparisons speak to a specifically German historical sensibility and the deep emotions these events evoke in German readers rather than to the explanatory power of the examples

Vergleichende Securitization- und Außenpolitikforschung im US-amerikanischen und europäischen Kontext

Die vorliegende publikationsbasierte Dissertationsschrift beschäftigt sich mit dem Phänomen der „Sicherheitsbedrohungen“ aus europäischer und US-amerikanischer Perspektive. Sie bewegt sich damit auf dem Gebiet der Security Studies. Dabei geht die Arbeit von einem erweiterten Verständnis von Sicherheit aus, das über das traditionell militärische Sicherheitsverständnis hinausgeht. Bedrohungen können demzufolge aus verschiedensten Situationen hervorgehen – unter anderem aus Finanzkrisen oder transnationalem Terrorismus. Nichtsdestotrotz stehen auch für die New Security Studies (mit ihrem so verstandenen erweiterten Sicherheitsbegriff) ebenso jene Bedrohungsszenarien im Fokus, die aus zwischenstaatlichen Konflikten resultieren, wie beispielsweise aus dem Ukraine-Russland Konflikt der vergangenen Jahre. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit werden die folgenden, zentralen Forschungsziele verfolgt: das Gewinnen von theoretisch-fundierten empirischen Erkenntnissen mit Blick auf ausgewählte Problemfelder der europäischen und US-amerikanischen Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik und mit Blick auf die transatlantischen Beziehungen (1) sowie die Erweiterung und Vertiefung der Securitization-Theorie und ihrer Anwendungsfelder in der Internationalen Politik (2)