For the third year in a row, Markus Böckenförde gave a guest lecture at the University of Airlangga, Indonesia. This time, too, the content of the lecture was a topic from the field of constitutional theory. After speaking on 'Constitutional Implementation' in 2021 and 'Unconstitutional Constitutional Amendments' in 2022, in 2023 he spoke on 'Informal Constitutional Change'.
On May 8 Markus Böckenförde presented at the Discussion Group on Comparative Constitutional Law and Theory organized by the Sigmund Freud University, Vienna on Limits of the law - Using the example of promoting the rule of law abroad. Thereby he shared first hand insights from his practical experiences as an expert in the field of constitutional assistance. He stressed that the establishment, validity and legitimacy of law in societies are the product of economic, socio-cultural and political processes. These processes rarely follow a linear line and are the result of conflicting interests, ongoing debates and changing perceptions. He illustrated that this is of particular relevance in relation to human rights. In the words of Otfried Höffe (2009): "It is about the possibility of incorporating human rights into one's own culture, about an 'inculturalisation'. An 'inculturalisation' understood as being itself subject to constant change. The aim of the lecture was to illustrate two aspects: (1) self-awareness of Western societies with regard to the above-mentioned processes in their own cultures, both, in the past and (!) present; (2) the insufficient reflection of these societies to use their own experiences as a basis for the design of programmes for the promotion of the rule of law abroad. The poster can be found in the attachment below.
Thirdly, a Seminar on 'Building Constitutional Governance in South Sudan' was organized by the University of Juba (South Sudan) and supported by , i.a. UNDP, took place on May 23-25 in Juba. After having passed the Constitution-making Process Bill in 2022, the country is at the eve of drafting a permanent constitution. There is a strong interest in gaining comparative experiences on design options of particularly sensitive topics. In this context, Markus Böckenförde was presenting on the Panel 'Thematic Issues in Post-Conflict Constitution Making in Sudan' a talk on 'Constitutional protection of presidential term limits: options and challenges', followed by a lively debate.
