Constitutional and Political Theory Selected Writings

Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde, Professor Emeritus, University of Freiburg

Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde is a Professor emeritus of Public Law at the University of Freiburg. He served as a judge at the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany 1983-1996 and is one of the best-known and most influential German legal scholars.


Mirjam Künkler is Senior Research Fellow at the Swedish Collegium of Advanced Study.

Tine Stein is the Professor of Political Theory at the University of Kiel.

Introduction, Mirjam Kunkler and Tine Stein
1. Political Theory of the State
I. Security and Self-Preservation before Justice: The Paradigm Shift and Transition from a Natural-Law to a Positive-Law Basis in Thomas Hobbes' System of Law (2004)
II. The Concept of the Political: A Key to Understanding Carl Schmitt's Constitutional Theory
III. The State as an Ethical State - Der Staat als Sittlicher Staat (1978).
IV. The Repressed State Of Emergency. The Exercise of State Authority in Extraordinary Circumstances (1978)
Part 2. Constitutional Theory
Introduction to Part 2, Mirjam Kunkler and Tine Stein
V. The Concept and Problems of the Constitutional State (1997)
VI. The Historical Evolution and Changes in the Meaning of the Constitution - Geschichtliche Entwicklung und Bedeutungswandel der Verfassung (1984)
VII. The Constituent Power of the People: A Liminal Concept of Constitutional Law (1986)
VIII. Constitutional Jurisdiction: Structure, Organization, and Legitimation (1999)
Part 3. Fundamental Rights and Constitutional Principles
Introduction to Part 3, Mirjam Kunkler and Tine Stein
IX. Critique of the Value-Based Grounding of Law (1990)
X. Fundamental Rights as Constitutional Principles: On the Current State of Interpreting Fundamental Rights (1990)
XI. The Fundamental Rights: Theory and Interpretation (1974)
XII. Protection of Liberty against Societal Power: Outline of a Problem (1975)
Part 4. On the Relationship between State, Citizenship and Political Autonomy
Introduction to Part 4, Mirjam Kunkler and Tine Stein
XIII. The Persecution of the Jews as a Civic Betrayal (1997)
XIV. State Citizenship and the Concept of Nationality (1995)
XV. The Future of Political Autonomy: Democracy and Statehood in a time of Globalization, Europeanization, and Individualization (1998)
XVI. Which Path is Europe Taking? (1997)
Part 5. Bockenforde in Context
XVII. Biographical Interview with Ernst-Wolfgang Bockenforde (2011)