After two decades of democratization, some states in Europe have seen a decline in the democratic quality of their political systems. This seminar deals with these processes of democratic backsliding. The research papers to be read will empirically map processes of democratic backsliding and account for these with theories emphasizing different explanatory factors. In addition to research focusing on domestic factors, we will also discuss research that investigates the EU (in-)ability to stop processes of democratic backsliding in EU member states. After having actively attended the seminar, you will be familiar with empirical trends and specific cases of democratic backsliding and with theories that political scientists use to explain these. With the knowledge acquired in the seminar, you should be able to conduct your own research on the topic, for example in your term paper.

Europäische Politik und europäisches Recht, insbesondere der Binnenmarkt mit den vier Freiheiten (Waren, Dienstleistungen, Personen und Kapital), dem Wettbewerbsrecht, der EU-Bürgerschaft, aber auch das Europäische Semester der Währungsunion, beeinflussen die Politik der Mitgliedstaaten auf vielfältige Weise. Die Entscheidungsprozesse auf europäischer Ebene sind komplex. Neben dem EU-Gesetzgebungsverfahren können bspw. delegierte Akte, Ausschussentscheidungen und auch Richterrecht des Europäischen Gerichtshofs eine Rolle spielen.
Im Seminar wollen wir – abhängig von den Interessen der Teilnehmenden – Politikprozesse in verschiedenen Politikfeldern als Fallstudien analysieren und fragen, wie wir qualitativ in dieser Analyse vorgehen und theoretisch unseren Fall erklären. Hierfür kommen neben den verschiedenen Integrationstheorien ebenso Theorien der Europäisierung, also des Einflusses der EU auf die Mitgliedstaaten, in Frage. Wofür steht unser Fall? Ohne theoretische Einbettung bleiben wir bei der Beschreibung stehen. Ziel des Seminars ist die Kenntnis der Teilnehmenden über die theoretisch informierte Erforschung europäischer Politikprozesse und die Anfertigung von Fallstudien zu vertiefen.

The European Union (EU) is defined as a legal community. In fact, law and courts have fundamentally shaped and continue to shape European integration. This Master seminar addresses students that wish to understand how and why law and courts matter for the polity, politics and policy of the EU. In the first section of the course, we will deal with fundamental concepts and theories at the intersection of law and politics, which provide us with a firm understanding of the rule of law, the rationale of judicial independence, models of judicial review and drivers of judicialization. We will then turn to the role of the supranational European Court of Justice and its interaction with ordinary courts in the Member States, reflecting on the importance of their interaction for constructing a legal order in the EU. Subsequently, we will focus on the particular role of constitutional courts, reflect on the delicate balance between EU law and constitutional law and explore the emergence of a so-called European constitutional network composed of national constitutional courts, the CJEU and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). In a final section of this course, we will apply the acquired knowledge to constitutional politics in the wake of current rises in the EU and its Member States.