The involvement of civil society in EU governance is widely interpreted as a right step in the direction of participatory democracy. Civil society associations are expected to communicate the concerns of citizens to Brussels, to engage in public deliberation with EU decision makers and...

The existence of a European public sphere, a public network of exchange of opinions and ideas on political issues, has come to be seen as a prerequisite for the democratic legitimacy of the European Union. The paper conceptualizes the Europeanization of the national public spheres as a gradual...

Civil society participation has become a buzzword in the debate about the legitimacy and accountability of international governance. Many organizations, prominently among them the World Trade Organization (WTO), have come under considerable pressure to open up their policy-making process towards...

Staat und Staatlichkeit, also der Leviathan, präsentieren sich derzeit in sehr unterschiedlichen Ausprägungen, die in ebenso unterschiedlichen sozio-ökonomischen Strukturen eingebettet sind. Der Autor unterscheidet den zivilisierten Leviathan in der OECD-Welt als späte Phase des modernen...

What role do contract enforcement institutions provided by the state play for economic development? This question has often been addressed. However, empirical research in this field looks predominantly at transactions that are conducted domestically. Less research exists regarding the...

As a result of international legalization, the potential for conflicts of overlapping jurisdictions has multiplied vertically between national and international law, as well as horizontally between national and foreign law. In competition control, the latter type of horizontal overlap between US...

Using qualitative-sociological research methodology, the article explores the phenomenon of standard-setting by transnational administrative networks. Regarding both the enormous problem-solving capacity and the occurring threats for legitimacy, it is examined whether such network-like...