Seit Anfang der 1970er-Jahre lässt sich eine graduelle Verschärfung der fiskalischen Situation moderner Staaten beobachten. Chronisch gewordene Defizite und eine dramatisch gestiegene Staatsverschuldung sind zu einer beherrschenden Rahmenbedingung wohlfahrtsstaatlicher Politik geworden. Das...

The European Monetary Union (EMU) has removed crucial instruments of macroeconomic management from the control of democratically accountable governments. Worse still, the EMU has systemically caused destabilizing macroeconomic imbalances that member states found difficult or impossible to...

European integration has come to constrain the capacity for democratic political action in EU member states through the judicial constitutionalization of "economic liberties," whereas the capacity for effective political action at the European level is narrowly constrained by the multiple-veto...

Eight years after the onset of the "Great Recession," the eurozone is deeply split between "Northern" EMU economies that seem to be doing reasonably well and "Southern" countries that continue to struggle with socioeconomic catastrophe. This paper argues that the continuing malaise is a...

Nachdem 2013 die umfangreiche digitale Dauerüberwachung durch staatliche Sicherheitsbehörden ins Zentrum der öffentlichen Aufmerksamkeit geriet, entwickelte sich im europäischen Raum unter dem Schlagwort "digitale Souveränität" eine breite Debatte über Chancen und Risiken sowie...

Empirical studies have shown that US politics is heavily tilted in favor of the better off, as political decisions tend to reflect the preferences of the rich while largely ignoring those of the poor and middle classes. These findings have prompted a lively debate about potential mechanisms that...

This essay re-examines the dual - republican and liberal - foundations of democratic legitimacy in the Western traditions of normative political theory. Considered in isolation, the European Union conforms to liberal standards but cannot satisfy republican criteria. Given these conflicting...