Nominator's project description
| To what extent do constitutional courts in different countries around the world exert political influence? What role do they play in old and young democracies, or in secular and theocratic states where they compete with religious law? Ran Hirschl is one of the world’s leading scholars of comparative constitutional law. Having completed numerous studies on constitutional development, the judicialization of politics, and the intellectual history and methodologies of comparative public law, Hirschl now wants to focus on settings in which religion and constitutional law interact to reflect and shape political struggles over collective identity. He also plans to explore new challenges concerning the constitutional governance of mega-cities in an increasingly globalized world. Hirschl will help to develop the Göttingen campus into a centre for research on the interaction between comparative law, constitutional design and comparative politics. To this end, he will cooperate extensively with the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity in Göttingen. |
