Alexander Somek
Biographic Data
| ID | 485547 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Alexander Somek |
| GIVEN NAMES | Alexander |
| FAMILY NAME | Somek |
| SIGNATURE | SOMEK A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Iowa |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1691-8855 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 9 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 20 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2003 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Hegel and European Society
This is a commentary on von Bogdandy’s article ‘On the Meaning and Promise of European Society’. It attempts to outline what an account of European society might look like if it were formulated from a more straightforward Hegelian perspective.
Autorität und Freiheit. Zum Tod von Joseph Raz
The 4th edition of the first volume of this work provides an update of the commentary on the preamble and articles 1 to 19 in case law and literature. The structure of the book has been retained and its content supplemented by more recent developments, such as the implications of Europeanisation and digitalisation as well as the Corona pandemic. As of the 4th edition, Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf has taken over the editorship of the commentary.
Recht als Kritik der praktischen Vernunft
Historically, the connection between law and practical reason has been subject to at least two expositions. According to the first, the law is the deposit of the moral reasons people have to create a set of institutions. The existence of law is, thus understood, a consequence of potentially universal reasons for action (and a wellspring of further such reasons). Alternately, practical reason can be seen as relevant to positive law in the dual rol…
Moral als Bosheit
Moralische Vorwürfe verletzen oder verärgern, vor allem wenn sie einen unvermutet und aus dem Hinterhalt treffen. Plötzlich gilt man als Rassist, Sexist oder gar als elitär. Die Daumen werden nach unten gekehrt und die Menge schreit »Buh«. In den Chor einzustimmen verspricht den Teilnehmenden Statusgewinn, denn wer andere verurteilt, reiht sich damit sofort unter die Guten ein. Aber dieses Gutsein ist perfide. Die unbeirrbar auftretende Moral erw…
Über die Subjektivität des Rechts
Das Recht entstammt Rechtsquellen und wird damit zum Gegenstand rechtlichen Wissens. Das ist die gängige Auffassung. Aus der Sicht der nachpositivistischen Theorie ist diese Auffassung unvollständig. Zu ergänzen ist sie durch ein Verständnis von Rechtsquellen, das diese auch als Formen des Wissens versteht.
Cosmopolitan constitutionalism
Owing to the vagaries of the ‘constitutionalization’ of the European Union, legal scholarship has disregarded the momentous constitutional transformation brought about by the European Convention System. This is regrettable, not least because the Convention has reconfigured national constitutional authority in a cosmopolitan context. The emerging cosmopolitan constitutionalism is based upon three ideas: first, the exercise of state authority must …
Liberalism and the Reason of Law
Johan van der Walt, The Concept of Liberal Democratic Law, London: Routledge, 2020, xiv + 267 pp, pb £27.99 There are a number of straightforward ways to establish connections between modern law and liberalism; indeed, it is so facile that one is inclined to regard the requisite links as intrinsic.11 See R. Mangabeira Unger, Knowledge and Politics (New York, NY: Free Press, 2nd ed, 1984) 72-76. J.W. Singer, 'The Player and the Cards: Nihilism and…
Unpopular Sovereignty
Popular sovereignty was presented in modern constitutional discourse as a mode of collective action. It was supposedly manifest in the power to constitute, control and dismantle governments. Important strands of contemporary constitutional theory, notably legal constitutionalism and deliberative democracy, have taken leave of this tradition. They have severed the connection between sovereignty and action. What remains of popular sovereignty is fu…
Wissen des Rechts
Das positive Recht ist das Objekt des rechtlichen Wissens. Aber wer oder was ist sein Subjekt? Ist es »die« Rechtswissenschaft? Ist es die jeweils zu einer Entscheidung befugte Stelle? Oder ist es gar »das Recht selbst«? Im Hauptbeitrag dieses Bandes wird die provokante These entfaltet, dass das Recht nicht bloß Gegenstand der Erkenntnis, sondern auch Subjekt des Erkennens ist. Den Schlüssel zum Verständnis dieser These bildet eine Theorie der Re…
Zwei Welten der Rechtslehre und die Philosophie des Rechts
Aus Film und Fernsehen sind wir mit den Erscheinungsformen des amerikanischen Rechts gut vertraut, sogar mit der Anwendung von so technischen Regeln wie jenen des Beweisrechts (»Einspruch!« »Abgelehnt!«). Doch diese oberflächliche Vertrautheit ist trügerisch. Die Rechtskultur und die Lehre des Rechts sind auffällig anders. Das liegt nicht bloß an der Tradition des Common Law, sondern an der interdisziplinären Verwissenschaftlichung des Rechts.
Beyond Kelsen and Hart
A summary is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.
The Individualisation of Liberty
The history of the rise of markets is also the history of individual and collective attempts to rise above them. First, it is possible to amass so much wealth on markets that one has the wherewithal to retreat from the competitive world and lead the life of a gentleman. Second, independence from markets can be created entirely from within them and without retreating into the sphere of leisure. The entrepreneur stands for this type of accomplishme…
From Workers to Migrants, from Distributive Justice to Inclusion
There is little awareness that from the perspective of distributive justice, a transnational market society exercises a justice‐disabling effect. No longer is society perceived to be a system of co‐operation, the net product of which is to be distributed among all participants fairly, but rather viewed as a composite of uncoordinated templates for the individual pursuit of opportunities. A society of this type does no longer regard a centralised …
On cosmopolitan self-determination
In order to arrive at an adequate understanding of the changing Westphalian world, it is necessary to distinguish political self-determination from its cosmopolitan counterpart. While political self-determination has its place in a familiar and common space, cosmopolitan self-determination stands for unbounded collective self-determination among strangers. Two forms can be distinguished. In its mixed form, it is tied in with political self-determ…
A Bureaucratic Turn
The article discusses the question whether Waldron's new analogy shifts the paradigm of international governance from a relationship that is based on law to a relationship that views participating actors as involved in some kind of common creative problem-solving effort. The implied change from 'law' to 'process' would raise serious concerns about what it might entail for the rights of citizens
From the Rule of Law to the Constitutionalist Makeover
The Concept of 'Law' in Global Administrative Law
The Owl of Minerva
Staatenloses Recht
Hans Kelsen’s claim that the state and the law are ”the same” is surrounded by a somewhat mystical air. Yet, the so-called ”identity thesis” loses much of its mystical aura when it is seen as an attempt to recast the state, as a social fact, in deontological terms. Thus understood, it gives rise to viewing the state as a mere product of legal acts and implicates the rejection of the idea that some further social fact is needed in order to account…
Genetic discrimination
From the Rule of Law to the Constitutionalist Makeover
The Concept of 'Law' in Global Administrative Law
Unpopular Sovereignty
Popular sovereignty was presented in modern constitutional discourse as a mode of collective action. It was supposedly manifest in the power to constitute, control and dismantle governments. Important strands of contemporary constitutional theory, notably legal constitutionalism and deliberative democracy, have taken leave of this tradition. They have severed the connection between sovereignty and action. What remains of popular sovereignty is fu…
The Owl of Minerva
Genetic discrimination
Staatenloses Recht
Hans Kelsen’s claim that the state and the law are ”the same” is surrounded by a somewhat mystical air. Yet, the so-called ”identity thesis” loses much of its mystical aura when it is seen as an attempt to recast the state, as a social fact, in deontological terms. Thus understood, it gives rise to viewing the state as a mere product of legal acts and implicates the rejection of the idea that some further social fact is needed in order to account…
The Owl of Minerva
The Concept of 'Law' in Global Administrative Law
A Bureaucratic Turn
The article discusses the question whether Waldron's new analogy shifts the paradigm of international governance from a relationship that is based on law to a relationship that views participating actors as involved in some kind of common creative problem-solving effort. The implied change from 'law' to 'process' would raise serious concerns about what it might entail for the rights of citizens
From the Rule of Law to the Constitutionalist Makeover
From Workers to Migrants, from Distributive Justice to Inclusion
There is little awareness that from the perspective of distributive justice, a transnational market society exercises a justice‐disabling effect. No longer is society perceived to be a system of co‐operation, the net product of which is to be distributed among all participants fairly, but rather viewed as a composite of uncoordinated templates for the individual pursuit of opportunities. A society of this type does no longer regard a centralised …
On cosmopolitan self-determination
In order to arrive at an adequate understanding of the changing Westphalian world, it is necessary to distinguish political self-determination from its cosmopolitan counterpart. While political self-determination has its place in a familiar and common space, cosmopolitan self-determination stands for unbounded collective self-determination among strangers. Two forms can be distinguished. In its mixed form, it is tied in with political self-determ…
The Individualisation of Liberty
The history of the rise of markets is also the history of individual and collective attempts to rise above them. First, it is possible to amass so much wealth on markets that one has the wherewithal to retreat from the competitive world and lead the life of a gentleman. Second, independence from markets can be created entirely from within them and without retreating into the sphere of leisure. The entrepreneur stands for this type of accomplishme…
Beyond Kelsen and Hart
A summary is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.
Zwei Welten der Rechtslehre und die Philosophie des Rechts
Aus Film und Fernsehen sind wir mit den Erscheinungsformen des amerikanischen Rechts gut vertraut, sogar mit der Anwendung von so technischen Regeln wie jenen des Beweisrechts (»Einspruch!« »Abgelehnt!«). Doch diese oberflächliche Vertrautheit ist trügerisch. Die Rechtskultur und die Lehre des Rechts sind auffällig anders. Das liegt nicht bloß an der Tradition des Common Law, sondern an der interdisziplinären Verwissenschaftlichung des Rechts.
Wissen des Rechts
Das positive Recht ist das Objekt des rechtlichen Wissens. Aber wer oder was ist sein Subjekt? Ist es »die« Rechtswissenschaft? Ist es die jeweils zu einer Entscheidung befugte Stelle? Oder ist es gar »das Recht selbst«? Im Hauptbeitrag dieses Bandes wird die provokante These entfaltet, dass das Recht nicht bloß Gegenstand der Erkenntnis, sondern auch Subjekt des Erkennens ist. Den Schlüssel zum Verständnis dieser These bildet eine Theorie der Re…
Cosmopolitan constitutionalism
Owing to the vagaries of the ‘constitutionalization’ of the European Union, legal scholarship has disregarded the momentous constitutional transformation brought about by the European Convention System. This is regrettable, not least because the Convention has reconfigured national constitutional authority in a cosmopolitan context. The emerging cosmopolitan constitutionalism is based upon three ideas: first, the exercise of state authority must …
Liberalism and the Reason of Law
Johan van der Walt, The Concept of Liberal Democratic Law, London: Routledge, 2020, xiv + 267 pp, pb £27.99 There are a number of straightforward ways to establish connections between modern law and liberalism; indeed, it is so facile that one is inclined to regard the requisite links as intrinsic.11 See R. Mangabeira Unger, Knowledge and Politics (New York, NY: Free Press, 2nd ed, 1984) 72-76. J.W. Singer, 'The Player and the Cards: Nihilism and…
Unpopular Sovereignty
Popular sovereignty was presented in modern constitutional discourse as a mode of collective action. It was supposedly manifest in the power to constitute, control and dismantle governments. Important strands of contemporary constitutional theory, notably legal constitutionalism and deliberative democracy, have taken leave of this tradition. They have severed the connection between sovereignty and action. What remains of popular sovereignty is fu…
Moral als Bosheit
Moralische Vorwürfe verletzen oder verärgern, vor allem wenn sie einen unvermutet und aus dem Hinterhalt treffen. Plötzlich gilt man als Rassist, Sexist oder gar als elitär. Die Daumen werden nach unten gekehrt und die Menge schreit »Buh«. In den Chor einzustimmen verspricht den Teilnehmenden Statusgewinn, denn wer andere verurteilt, reiht sich damit sofort unter die Guten ein. Aber dieses Gutsein ist perfide. Die unbeirrbar auftretende Moral erw…
Über die Subjektivität des Rechts
Das Recht entstammt Rechtsquellen und wird damit zum Gegenstand rechtlichen Wissens. Das ist die gängige Auffassung. Aus der Sicht der nachpositivistischen Theorie ist diese Auffassung unvollständig. Zu ergänzen ist sie durch ein Verständnis von Rechtsquellen, das diese auch als Formen des Wissens versteht.
Autorität und Freiheit. Zum Tod von Joseph Raz
The 4th edition of the first volume of this work provides an update of the commentary on the preamble and articles 1 to 19 in case law and literature. The structure of the book has been retained and its content supplemented by more recent developments, such as the implications of Europeanisation and digitalisation as well as the Corona pandemic. As of the 4th edition, Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf has taken over the editorship of the commentary.
Recht als Kritik der praktischen Vernunft
Historically, the connection between law and practical reason has been subject to at least two expositions. According to the first, the law is the deposit of the moral reasons people have to create a set of institutions. The existence of law is, thus understood, a consequence of potentially universal reasons for action (and a wellspring of further such reasons). Alternately, practical reason can be seen as relevant to positive law in the dual rol…
Hegel and European Society
This is a commentary on von Bogdandy’s article ‘On the Meaning and Promise of European Society’. It attempts to outline what an account of European society might look like if it were formulated from a more straightforward Hegelian perspective.
Political science (16 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Law (8 works) · Philosophy (8 works) · Politics (6 works) · Law (5 works) · Law and economics (5 works) · Law and Political Science (5 works) · Computer Science (4 works) · Democracy (4 works)