Markus Patberg was Visting Professor of Political and Legal Theory in the winter semester 2024/25 and summer term 2025. Patberg has been working at the University of Hamburg since 2013 and has spent research stays at the London School of Economics and Political Science, University College London and the Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona. His work focuses on democratic theory, constitutional theory and international political theory. His current projects deal with withdrawals from international institutions and the digital transformation of democracy.

Link to his homepage in Hamburg: https://www.wiso.uni-hamburg.de/fachbereich-sowi/professuren/niesen/team/patberg-markus.html

Courses in Summer Term 2025

15042 Proseminar
Defensive Democracy

Schedule: Monday, 14-16 h (Class starts on 2025-04-14)
Location: Ihnestr. 21, Hörsaal B

------

15431 Seminar
Governance in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Schedule: Monday, 16-18 h (Class Starts on 2025-04-14)
Location: Ihnestr. 22, Seminarraum UG 1

Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing modern governance, both through the use of AI technologies by public authorities and through the deployment of AI in areas of society that provide the wider context of political decision-making, such as the formation of public opinion on social media. In this seminar, we will examine this development from the perspective of political theory. The focus is on the legitimacy of governance with AI and of AI. What are the potential contributions of AI to legitimate governance and how should democratic societies regulate AI innovation and deployment? Topics to be addressed include the implications of AI for the shape and functioning of contemporary institutions of (democratic) governance, the AI-driven transformation of the public sphere, and the regulation of AI through national and global governance.

Literatur: Bullock, Justin B. et al. (eds.) (2024): The Oxford Handbook of AI Governance. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

------

Courses in Winter Term 2024/2025

15041 Proseminar
Basic Concepts of Political Theory: Current Debates
Schedule: Monday, 12-14h (Class starts on: 2024-10-14)
Location: Ihnestr. 22, Seminarraum UG 3

------

15431 Seminar
Global Constitutionalism: Crisis and Renewal
Schedule: Monday, 14-16h (Class starts on: 2024-10-14)
Location: Ihnestr. 22, Seminarraum UG 2

Patberg, Markus (2025). What is Social Media’s Place in Democracy? In: The Review of Politics 87/2, 236-257.

Patberg, Markus/Ahlhaus, Svenja (2023). Exit-Politik als Regression. Wider den souveränen Voluntarismus. In: Leviathan 51/40 (special issue), 170-192.

Patberg, Markus (2020). Constituent Power in the European Union. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Patberg, Markus (2020). Can Disintegration Be Democratic? The European Union Between Legitimate Change and Regression. In: Political Studies 68/3, 582-599.

Patberg, Markus (2016). Against Democratic Intergovernmentalism. The Case for a Theory of Constituent Power in the Global Realm. In: International Journal of Constitutional Law 14/3, 622-638.