The EU is set to soon achieve a union among the peoples of Europe – at the same time, national, constitutional, cultural, and linguistic identities are to be preserved and respected. It is the fragility of and seemingly contradictory relationship between legitimate national and supranational, legal and political authorities that we will try to understand from a legal perspective.
max. 18 participants
Participants will receive 6 ECTS credit points and a certificate if they attend regularly (at least 80% attendance) and participate actively. Additionally, six weeks after the end of the course a Transcript of Records is issued by Humboldt-Universität.
The EU is set to achieve an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe and at the same time bound to respect national cultural, linguistic and also national constitutional identities. How can these two seemingly opposing aims be properly accommodated? Who is claiming to have the last word about it? What are the challenges and where lie the possible boundaries of the European legal integration?
The course will be combined from four thematic parts. First, it will take a look into the basic features of a modern liberal democratic nation-state and its constitutional commitments. Second, it will examine the foundations of the EU, its governing principles and values and its sui generis nature as a supranational form. Third, it will highlight a notion of national constitutional identity from a national as well as from the European perspective. And finally, it will delve into the questions of resistance and dissent in legal theory and try to find parallels with an uneasy relation between the Member States and the EU.
ScheduleThe courses are grouped into different time tracks.Your course will take place in Track C.
Cultural activitiesYou are welcome to join our cultural program with an excellent selection of excursions, sports activities, and social gatherings. It is the perfect setting for getting to know each other and for experiencing the varous facets of Berlin. There are no additional costs for participation in the activities.
Activities and tours we offer regularly: Federal Chancellery, German Parliament, House of Representatives, Topography of Terror, Political Archive, Museum Island, Kreuzberg Tour, Daytrip to Potsdam, Exhibitions…
Undergraduate law students and students of other academic backgrounds with a strong interest in the course topic.
This course is taught in English, including readings in English. For the understanding of the texts and the discussions in class a language level B2 (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) is required.
Participating students need to be at least 18 years old.
Dr. Jakob Gašperin Wischhoff, LL.M.is a Senior Editor at Verfassungsblog, where he is heading the Project Focus - Promoting Fundamentals of the EU Charter in Society, and an Adjunct Faculty at Humboldt University of Berlin.
Jakob studied law at the University of Ljubljana, Utrecht University, and Humboldt University in Berlin. He worked at several renowned law firms and was an affiliated member of the Research Group "Unity and Difference in the European Legal Area" (EPEDER) at the European Law School. He was also a visiting researcher at the European University Institute in Florence (EUI) and at King’s College London. As a research fellow at the DFG Research Group DynamInt (Dynamic Integration in the EU), Jakob wrote his PhD thesis on national constitutional identity in the EU. He also co-edited a book in the Routledge series Comparative Constitutional Change: Accommodating Diversity in Multilevel Constitutional Orders: Legal Mechanisms of Divergence and Convergence.
Jakob’s research focuses on European constitutional law, international public law, constitutional theory, and legal philosophy. He speaks fluent English, German, and Slovenian, and has a working knowledge of French and Croatian.
