Recht und Politik

Ulrich K. Preuß, who advocates a “sophisticated etatism” (statism), is one of the most outstanding contemporary German thinkers on the state. His underlying premise in analyses of the state assumes that there is a tension between law and politics. In this volume, his works are reconstructed and explored for the first time. For Preuß, “the” political has lost its exclusivity in the state. On the other hand, in times of globalisation, there is still no alternative to the state with regard to its capacity to enforce the law. Positive law, especially the constitution, is understood as an ordering structure of the political, which is not only able to limit power but to enable freedom. This basic understanding of the state is developed by Preuß like no other German lawyer against the backdrop of current political events and challenges – 1968, 1989 and 9/11 may be applied here as benchmarks.
With contributions by Petra Dobner, Günter Frankenberg, Claudio Franzius, Stephan Leibfried, Isabelle Ley, Anne Peters, Alfred Rinken, Tine Stein.