about the center

The Research Center for International Legal and State Theory is dedicated to fundamental problems of law, such as the concepts of law and the state, legal methodology, and the relations of German law to Public International Law and European Law. It pursues these issues with the interdisciplinary involvement of linguistics, philosophy and political science. This has resulted in numerous pieces on the international protection of human rights, the international system, the division of authority in foreign affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany, the legality of Bundeswehr missions, and the impact of Public International and European Law on national law, for example within the context of Asylum and Refugee Law or the protection of cultural heritage in Germany.

The work at the research center has been shaped by its director's and former academic assistants' periods of research and teaching abroad (New York University, University of Michigan, Tulane University [New Orleans], Besançon/France, Sweden, Israel, and Greece) as well as by its integration into the interdisciplinary work of the Center for International Studies at TU Dresden. This has been reflected by innovative forms of events such as interdisciplinary seminars, workshops, simulation games, colloquia and disputations, which have been integrated into academic teaching.

The textbook on European Union Law, which is now in its fourth edition, also breaks new ground. It not only teaches the subject matter, but, following the example of the latest anglo-saxon educational literature, comprises didactic aids that go far beyond what is customary in Germany. It, furtherly, combines systematic presentation with summaries of landmark judgments (mainly of the Court of Justice of the European Union), and areas of controversy are outlined in 'discussion topic boxes' encouraging students to develop a critical perspective, follow a line of thought, and think proactively.