Markus Thiel - Böcker

This volume provides an overview of EU actions seeking to manage diversity, introduces a conceptual framework to think about diversity in the European Union, and provides a tapestry of cases that illustrate minority politics and activism, contestations over identity and difference, and the construction of new meanings of European citizenship.

This book critically analyzes the European Union’s promotion of LGBTI rights in the international arena. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex rights are heavily contested across the globe, with over 70 countries criminalizing same-sex relations and at least 10 imposing the death penalty. The book details how the EU, based on different member state positions, attempts to jointly formulate and implement guidelines for the external promotion of LGBTI rights. It also problematizes the various normative and policy-based Eurocentric prescriptions to further these rights. Drawing on an international political sociology framework infused with queer theoretical thought, the author investigates the apparent normative tensions emerging from Europe’s promotion of LGBTI rights as liberal human rights and the ensuing pushback by culturally and politically conservative states. He examines the compatibility of EU institutional and member states’ conceptions of LGBTI rights and the more general question of the EU’s normative agenda-setting power on the world stage. He then explores the external policy areas in which LGBTI rights promotion is formulated and diffused – namely in development and foreign aid, in enlargement and neighbourhood policies, and in other international organizations. In conclusion, the author suggests viewing the contention surrounding LGBTI rights within broader governance contexts, and thus reimagining rights promotion in a more holistic manner. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of LGBTI and Human Rights, European Politics, and International Relations.

This book critically analyzes the European Union’s promotion of LGBTI rights in the international arena. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex rights are heavily contested across the globe, with over 70 countries criminalizing same-sex relations and at least 10 imposing the death penalty. The book details how the EU, based on different member state positions, attempts to jointly formulate and implement guidelines for the external promotion of LGBTI rights. It also problematizes the various normative and policy-based Eurocentric prescriptions to further these rights. Drawing on an international political sociology framework infused with queer theoretical thought, the author investigates the apparent normative tensions emerging from Europe’s promotion of LGBTI rights as liberal human rights and the ensuing pushback by culturally and politically conservative states. He examines the compatibility of EU institutional and member states’ conceptions of LGBTI rights and the more general question of the EU’s normative agenda-setting power on the world stage. He then explores the external policy areas in which LGBTI rights promotion is formulated and diffused – namely in development and foreign aid, in enlargement and neighbourhood policies, and in other international organizations. In conclusion, the author suggests viewing the contention surrounding LGBTI rights within broader governance contexts, and thus reimagining rights promotion in a more holistic manner. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of LGBTI and Human Rights, European Politics, and International Relations.

This collection provides an up-to-date analysis of key country approaches to Militant Democracy. Featuring contributions from some of the key people working in this area, including Mark Tushnet and Helen Irving, each chapter presents a stocktaking of the legal measures to protect the democracy against its enemies within. In addition to providing a description of the country's view of Militant Democracy and the current situation, it also examines the legal and political provisions to defend the democratic structure against attacks. The discussion also presents proposals for the development of the Militant Democracy principle or its alternatives in policy and legal practice. In the final chapter the editor compares the different arrangements and formulates a minimum consensus as to what measures are indispensable to protect a democracy. Highly topical, this book is a valuable resource for students, academics and policy-makers concerned with democratic principles.

Adherence to basic human rights norms has become an expected feature of states throughout the world. In Europe, the promotion and protection of human rights through national governments has been enhanced by the diversity of intergovernmental organizations committed to this cause. The latest addition to the continent's rights organizations arrived ten years ago when, based on the EU's Lisbon Treaty, the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) was created as a functional institution to highlight and improve human rights within EU member states. In contrast to other regulatory agencies in the EU, the FRA provides a research-based advisory function for EU institutions and legislation and performs a public-diplomacy function in promoting fundamental rights across EU member states.The linking of civil society with internal rights policies has yet produced very little scholarship. Markus Thiel's European Civil Society and Human Rights Advocacy not only fills this vacuum: it also offers a timely analysis in the context of Europe's proliferating human rights challenges, like the current refugee crises and the nationalist responses that geopolitical changes have provoked. European Civil Society and Human Rights Advocacy examines the interaction between the FRA and hundreds of transnational civil society organizations working with and on behalf of vulnerable populations in EU member states and probes the high normative standards of human rights attainment and transnational participatory governance in the EU.Thiel surveys how networking among civil society organizations takes place, to what extent they are able to set the agenda or insert themselves into EU decision-making procedures, and how they are able to exploit the opportunity structure presented by the FRA's institutionalization of a voice for civil society. Thiel draws conclusions for the larger issues of human rights promotion, transnational citizenship, and participatory governance in the region, reflecting broadly and critically on the legitimacy of EU human rights norms through a political sociology perspective.

As the EU continues its integration process, the concepts of culture and transnational European belonging remain ambivalent, whether in the realm of socio-historical representation or mass politics. Engaging with recent scholarly debates surrounding the formation of collective transnational identities, this collection draws on the latest empirical case studies to explore the meaning and composition of European identity, the mechanisms that create and shape it and the question of whom it includes. Each author pays close attention to the cultural aspects of identity formation, whether manifested in official, institutional articulations, such as symbols, coinage, ceremonies and discursive manifestations, or in the cultures of the everyday, such as through new forms of communication networks, consumption or leisure. Exploring attempts by various actors - institutions, groups, individuals - to create transnational European identities, European Identity and Culture scrutinizes the cultural formations that have either reignited or emerged in often contradictory relations to the EU project, including local, regional and transnational allegiances. A rich, interdisciplinary investigation of the role of culture in the formation of European identity, whether as a central building block to unity or as a formidable obstacle to a common sense of purpose, this book will be of interest to scholars across the social sciences and humanities working on questions of political culture, European integration, citizenship and (trans-) national identity.

This collection provides an up-to-date analysis of key country approaches to Militant Democracy. Featuring contributions from some of the key people working in this area, including Mark Tushnet and Helen Irving, each chapter presents a stocktaking of the legal measures to protect the democracy against its enemies within. In addition to providing a description of the country's view of Militant Democracy and the current situation, it also examines the legal and political provisions to defend the democratic structure against attacks. The discussion also presents proposals for the development of the Militant Democracy principle or its alternatives in policy and legal practice. In the final chapter the editor compares the different arrangements and formulates a minimum consensus as to what measures are indispensable to protect a democracy. Highly topical, this book is a valuable resource for students, academics and policy-makers concerned with democratic principles.

As LGBTQ claims acquire global relevance, how do sexual politics impact the study of International Relations? This book argues that LGBTQ perspectives are not only an inherent part of world politics but can also influence IR theory-making. LGBTQ politics have simultaneously gained international prominence in the past decade, achieving significant policy change, and provoked cultural resistance and policy pushbacks.Sexuality politics, more so than gender-based theories, arrived late on the theoretical scene in part because sexuality and gender studies initially highlighted post-structuralist thinking, which was hardly accepted in mainstream political science. This book responds to a call for a more empirically motivated but also critical scholarship on this subject. It offers comparative case-studies from regional, cultural and theoretical peripheries to identify ways of rethinking IR. Further, it aims to add to critical theory, broadening the knowledge about previously unrecognized perspectives in an accessible manner. Being aware of preoccupations with the de-queering, disciplining nature of theory establishment in the social sciences, we critically reconsider IR concepts from a particular LGBTQ vantage point and infuse them with queer thinking. Considering the relative dearth of contemporary mainstream IR-theorizing, authors ask what contribution LGBTQ politics can provide for conceiving the political subject, as well as the international structure in which activism is embedded.This book will be of interest to students and scholars of gender politics, cultural studies and international relations theory.

As LGBTQ claims acquire global relevance, how do sexual politics impact the study of International Relations? This book argues that LGBTQ perspectives are not only an inherent part of world politics but can also influence IR theory-making. LGBTQ politics have simultaneously gained international prominence in the past decade, achieving significant policy change, and provoked cultural resistance and policy pushbacks.Sexuality politics, more so than gender-based theories, arrived late on the theoretical scene in part because sexuality and gender studies initially highlighted post-structuralist thinking, which was hardly accepted in mainstream political science. This book responds to a call for a more empirically motivated but also critical scholarship on this subject. It offers comparative case-studies from regional, cultural and theoretical peripheries to identify ways of rethinking IR. Further, it aims to add to critical theory, broadening the knowledge about previously unrecognized perspectives in an accessible manner. Being aware of preoccupations with the de-queering, disciplining nature of theory establishment in the social sciences, we critically reconsider IR concepts from a particular LGBTQ vantage point and infuse them with queer thinking. Considering the relative dearth of contemporary mainstream IR-theorizing, authors ask what contribution LGBTQ politics can provide for conceiving the political subject, as well as the international structure in which activism is embedded.This book will be of interest to students and scholars of gender politics, cultural studies and international relations theory.

This volume provides an overview of EU actions seeking to manage diversity, introduces a conceptual framework to think about diversity in the European Union, and provides a tapestry of cases that illustrate minority politics and activism, contestations over identity and difference, and the construction of new meanings of European citizenship.

As the EU continues its integration process, the concepts of culture and transnational European belonging remain ambivalent, whether in the realm of socio-historical representation or mass politics. Engaging with recent scholarly debates surrounding the formation of collective transnational identities, this collection draws on the latest empirical case studies to explore the meaning and composition of European identity, the mechanisms that create and shape it and the question of whom it includes. Each author pays close attention to the cultural aspects of identity formation, whether manifested in official, institutional articulations, such as symbols, coinage, ceremonies and discursive manifestations, or in the cultures of the everyday, such as through new forms of communication networks, consumption or leisure. Exploring attempts by various actors - institutions, groups, individuals - to create transnational European identities, European Identity and Culture scrutinizes the cultural formations that have either reignited or emerged in often contradictory relations to the EU project, including local, regional and transnational allegiances. A rich, interdisciplinary investigation of the role of culture in the formation of European identity, whether as a central building block to unity or as a formidable obstacle to a common sense of purpose, this book will be of interest to scholars across the social sciences and humanities working on questions of political culture, European integration, citizenship and (trans-) national identity.

“An excellent collection of essays that illustrate how EU member states’ wish to implement normatively inspired policies is confronted with the geopolitical realities of today’s world.

This volume provides an updated analysis of the most significant constitutive aspects for the political sociology of the EU. It examines in detail how civic and political activism regarding the inclusion and integration of gender and sexual minorities, as well as migrants and refugees, have become substantial forces in Europe today. It exhibits a political sociology perspective that moves away from the predominant state-centrism and institutional focus in mainstream analyses of European politics. It brings to the fore the role of citizens, civil society and identity politics as well as transnational societal phenomena impacting on the ambivalent civic in/exclusion tendencies prevalent in the EU. The book highlights the linkage of EU institutions and policies to established and new societal actors in response to recent challenges of the EU.

This volume provides an updated analysis of the most significant constitutive aspects for the political sociology of the EU. It brings to the fore the role of citizens, civil society and identity politics as well as transnational societal phenomena impacting on the ambivalent civic in/exclusion tendencies prevalent in the EU.

Das Recht der inneren und äußeren Sicherheit scheint an Kontur zu verlieren. In verschiedenen Bereichen ist eine "Entgrenzung" der Tätigkeit der Polizei- und Verfassungsschutzbehörden und der Streitkräfte festzustellen: Eingriffsbefugnisse werden zeitlich in das Gefahrenvorfeld verlagert, die Tätigkeitsbereiche der Behörden überschneiden sich zunehmend, neuartige, auch internationale Kooperationsformen und ein umfassender Informationsaustausch werden genutzt, um die Aufgaben der Sicherheitsgewährleistung zu erfüllen. Markus Thiel untersucht, ob der vor allem infolge der Bedrohungen durch internationalen Terrorismus und organisierte Kriminalität stattfindende Wandel der Sicherheitsarchitektur verfassungsrechtlichen Bedenken begegnet. Dazu beleuchtet der Autor insbesondere die grundrechtlichen und staatsorganisationsrechtlichen Direktiven, die der neueren Judikatur des Bundesverfassungsgerichts zu entnehmen sind.