Freiheitsschutz vor staatlicher Gesundheitssteuerung

The morbidity rates for diseases associated with behaviour are on the rise. Health behaviour is therefore central to public health policy. Under the influence of behavioural economics, soft instruments of behaviour control, such as monetary incentives or educational measures, are gaining importance. But is the state allowed to push individuals to lead a healthy lifestyle?
The book identifies the fundamental rights limits on paternalistic control of health behaviour. Based on a control theoretical systematisation, it assesses which instruments of public health control interfere with the fundamental right to freedom. Drawing on philosophical arguments, the book then discusses whether the state’s protection of the health of its citizens for their own good is legitimised under the constitution – a particularly delicate issue in the German liberal order.