Thomas Würtenberger

Prof. Dr. Thomas Würtenberger, born in 1943, studies of law at the universities of Geneva, Berlin, Freiburg and of public administration at the École Nationale d’Administration in Paris, 1971 PhD in Freiburg with a thesis on “The legitimacy of state power”, 1977 habilitation in Erlangen with a thesis on “Constitutional problems of political planning”, 1979/80 Professor of Public Law at the Law Faculty of the University of Augsburg, from 1981 to 1988 at the University of Trier, since 1988 at the University of Freiburg, guest professor at the Faculté de Droit, Paris I (Sorbonne), at the Faculté de Droit, Strasbourg as well as since 2005 Professeur invité at the Faculté de Droit, Lausanne, many guest lectures in West and East Europe as well as East Asia, from 1994 to 1997 executive director of the France Center (Frankreich-Zentrum) in Freiburg, since 1997 legal adviser of the president of the University Freiburg, since 2002 corresponding member of the Mainz Academy for sciences and literature, since 2007 part of the interdisciplinary network “Security and Society” in Freiburg.

Prof. Würtenberger’s research interests cover various topics ranging from constitutional and administrative law, administrative law of procedure, the legitimacy and acceptance of state action to the history of the modern constitutional state. A main focus of his work is the security law. Here, he has worked as a political advisor, also for candidates for membership to the European Union. He has published more than 250 scientific works.

Ausgewählte Publikationen

Die Legitimität staatlicher Herrschaft. Eine staatsrechtlich-politi¬sche Begriffsgeschichte.

Schriften zur Verfassungsgeschichte. Band 20, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1973, 329 S.

Staatsrechtliche Probleme politischer Planung. Schriften zum Öffentlichen Recht, Band 360, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1979, 445 S.

Zeitgeist und Recht, J.C.B. Mohr, Tübingen 1987, 232 S.

– 2. Aufl. J.C.B. Mohr, Tübingen, 1991, 244 S.

Würtenberger/Kazuo Hatanaka (Hg.), The Rule-of-Law State (Rechtsstaat) - a comparative aspect, Koyo, Kyoto, 1994, 277 S. (in japanischer Sprache).

Die Akzeptanz von Verwaltungsentscheidungen, Nomos, Ba¬den-Ba¬den, 1996.

(Hg. gemeinsam mit Bernd Guggenberger): Hüter der Verfassung oder Lenker der Politik? Das Bundesverfassungsgericht im Widerstreit, Nomos, Baden-Baden, 1998, 320 S.

Verwaltungsprozeßrecht, Beck, München 1998, 377 S.

– 2. Aufl., Beck, München, 2006, 309 S.

Würtenberger/Heckmann, Polizeirecht in Baden-Württemberg, C.F. Müller, Heidelberg, 6. Aufl. 2005, 458 S.

Das Polizei- und Sicherheitsrecht vor den Herausforderungen des Terrorismus, in: J. Masing/O. Jouanjan (Hg.), Terrorismusbekämpfung, Menschenrechtsschutz und Föderation, 2008, S. 27-48.

Zippelius/Würtenberger, Deutsches Staatsrecht, Beck, München, 31. Aufl. 2005, 563 S.

- 32. Aufl. 2008, 658 S.

Increasing civil security without limiting the freedom of citizens: this is one of the big tasks security politics and the law of national security presently have to address. The known threats in mind, it has to be solved in what amount individual and societal liberty can be restrained to be able to live in security. Beyond the critical discussion about the legitimacy of single surveillance measures the goal is to establish a more general basis for developing a balance between liberty and security. This discourse has to take into consideration not only the national level but also the European level which is going to increase in importance. Furthermore, the following aspects have to be addressed: the acceptance of a new security law, a possibly new determination of social obligation of the citizens, the proportionality between threats and security measures which restrain civil liberties as well as the confidence in a constitutional and liberty preserving realisation of security technologies.