Department of Public Law

Head of project: Fe­de­ri­co Lo­ren­zo Ra­maio­li
This comparative philosophy of law dissertation aims at formulating a new analytical approach to the Islamic legal tradition based on ‘juridical categories’, a concept that facilitates comprehension and understanding of juridical phenomena. more

Head of project: Ben­ja­min Rus­te­berg
This project deals with action-oriented measures of personal prevention in police law, which are linked to predic­tions that a particular person will behave unlaw­fully in the future. more

Head of project: Rafa­el Gior­gio Dal­la Bar­ba
The interdisciplinary project examines the impact of metaethical studies on the hermeneutic controversy on hard cases. The first part portrays that controversy by dividing it between two conflicting theses. more

Head of project: Frie­de­mann Groth
This doctoral thesis aims to contextualize understandings of the ‘State’ ex­pressed within the gun laws of Germany and the United States. A cultural legal study, this project offers instructive observations on basic conceptions in legal science. more

Head of project: Max Poschmann
While civil disobedience has been widely discussed in political theory, it remains mostly neglected in German legal scholarship. Bridging this gap, this disserta­tion examines under what conditions, and in what ways, civil disobe­di­ence may be constitutionally protected under German law. more

Head of project: Laura Wallenfels
To limit the exercise of police powers, German public security law authorizes police to avert so-called dangers. That is, a ‘danger’ is a condition for legitimate use of police power. ‘Danger’ thereby is a term of art. Not all risks are ‘dan­gers’, and in the common doctrine, there is only a ‘danger’ in the case of a ‘sufficient probability of dam­age’. more

Head of project: Phil­ipp Joh­ner
In recent attacks in Paris and Brussels, terrorists used weapons and explosive vests to kill or injure as many people possible. To effectively foil such attacks, one must identify perpetrators from a distance and stop them before they reach dense crowds. This is not possible using current means. more

Head of project: Sa­rah Prauns­män­del
In the quest for public security, communication is the most important operational resource used by police. When Ger­man police act in a preventive capacity, officers generally speak German while performing their duties. To over­come language barriers, the police may deviate from German, but there is no clear obligation to communicate in other languages. more

Heads of project: R. Poscher, S. El­lebrecht, St. Ja­ro­li­mek, St. Kauf­mann
Considering Germany’s diversifying society, the question arises whether its police forces can contribute to an open and plural society and how they should be organized. This joint research project involves three leading public se­cu­rity institutions: the Centre for Security and Society at the University of Freiburg; the Deutsche Hochschule der Poli­zei; and the Department of Public Law at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law. more

Head of project: Rachel Pougnet
This comparative socio-legal project examines increasing state uses and (re)con­figurations of citizenship in na­tional security contexts. Over the last few decades, the use of citizenship to curtail the rights of suspected terror­ists and enhance exclusionary politics of belonging has become a common mode of state action. more

Head of project: Samuel Hartwig
The last few years have seen a disquieting new trend emerge in global Islamist terrorism. The primary threat to Western societies used to be posed by terrorists entering Western countries from abroad. But nowadays citizens of Western countries also travel in the opposite direction to participate in terrorist cam­paigns in foreign countries. more

Head of project: Sofiya Kartalova
As a result of mounting migratory, currency, and judicial reform tensions, the European Union (EU) is currently con­front­ing a rule of law crisis. more

Head of project: Mar­tha Ba­sa­zi­enw Kas­sa
The proportionality principle is the crown jewel of German legal scholarship, which has long served as a valued framework for human rights and fundamental freedoms adjudication around the world. more

Head of project: Lukas Landerer
Data retention characteristically involves storing mass data of persons not suspected of criminal or otherwise dan­ger­ous behaviour, and making this data accessible to security authorities. In 2014, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) held that a telecommunications data directive violated European fundamental rights and declared it invalid.
  more

Head of project: Maja Werner
Risk assessment instruments provide a promising but controversial forecasting approach for security agencies. This doctoral project aims to structure the legal framework of their use in counterterrorism and counterextremism. more