Paper Titles & Abstracts

The single European currency was meant to make Europe more united and Germany more European; instead it made Europe more fragmented and German. Three crucial moments in European history illuminate why and how this transformation occurred: 1929-1932, 1989-1992 and 2009-2012. Through the prism of these historical snapshots, I will examine the relationship between law and politics in times of crisis and revolutionary change, drawing on influential political thinkers such as the controversial legal scholar Carl Schmitt. My hypothesis is that just as Europe became unified through a supranational legal structure created by European Union institutions and member states themselves, it is now being fragmented by processes that undermine European law.As the eurozone crisis intensified in 2012, two visions dominated debates about Europe's future. On the one hand were the likes of Ulrich Beck, Jürgen Habermas and Robert Menasse who advocated a Europe led by a Germany abnegating itself and demanding the same from other European nations. On the other hand, the German government assisted by the European Commission and its partners, sought to institute a German Europe-à-la-Merkel that cements austerity in a supranational Rechtsstaat. Both visions are foolhardy, repeating the mistakes of the past. Their universalist pretensions notwithstanding, what unites Beck's, Habermas', Menasse's and Merkel's views on Europe is the fact that they are very German. Their proposed solutions are unlikely to appeal to other European nations, and might hence contribute to Europe's further fragmentation.