Jan Christoph Suntrup: Umkämpftes Recht. Zur mehrdimensionalen Analyse rechtskultureller Konflikte durch die politische Kulturforschung
Frankfurt am Main: Klostermann 2018
According to one of the great narratives of political and legal thinking, law is a peace order that eliminates conflicts or even counters chaos and violence by way of the implementation formations of civil order. Nevertheless, law is not only the scene of numerous social and political struggles and legal conflicts, but sometimes provokes new conflicts through its procedures, norms and categories. The focus of this study is the analysis of cultural conflicts, which - not least due to the dynamics of globalization, Europeanization and migration – are at play inside the law or are ignited by it. The cultural science perspective adopted here is based on the explication of a multi-dimensional concept of law that encompasses norms, validity narratives, forms of organization, epistemic prerequisites and effects as well as symbols and rituals of law. This conceptualization is intended to prevent the assumption that 'law' is a uniform object, since it proves to be plural, controversial and dynamic in terms of its content as well as its form. The supplementation of the theoretical-conceptual development of such a concept of law by empirical studies of various legal-pluralistic constellations and struggles brings to light politically charged as well as subliminal cultural conflicts.
About the author
Privatdozent Dr. Jan Christoph Suntrup is a political scientist. He was a longtime researcher and research coordinator at the Käte Hamburger Center for Advanced Study “Law as Culture” , where he is now an associated researcher. He also teaches at the Institute for Political Science and Sociology at the University of Bonn.