EU Area of Freedom, Security and Justice law with comparative constitutional law

This course deals with the most current issues of security law in the EU and global contexts. We will discuss the EU’s security agenda and the legal challenges it poses such as that of due process rights and data protection. We will also discuss EU security regulation in a broader framework by placing it in a comparative constitutional law perspective and assessing it in the light of, for example, US practices as well as other countries. Moreover, we will discuss the notion of a European solidarity with regard to the EU ‘s responses to security matters.

In short, the course explores a policy domain in EU law (the “Area of Freedom, Security and Justice”) and introduces the topic of comparative constitutional law. This field of law is worthy of special attention because of its high-stakes content (particularly from an individual and a state perspective, security, human rights, data protection etc.). As the EU policy Area of Freedom, Security and Justice becomes more and more intertwined with ‘mainstream’ EU constitutional law, students are offered an advance course into the dynamics of EU security regulation while asked to reflects on its deeper theoretical meaning and thereby aiming at linking this course to their previous studies (e.g. constitutional law, criminal law, international law, migration law). Additionally, the course draws on critical insights from criminology, political science and international relations as well as political theory.

Examination: course essay and oral presentation.