Academic profile:
Jens Steffek (Technische Universität Darmstadt) The Legitimacy of International Governance fall 2015
Jens Steffek is a Professor of Transnational Governance at Technische Universität Darmstadt and Principal Investigator in the Cluster of Excellence “The Formation of Normative Orders”, hosted by the University of Frankfurt/Main. Before coming to Darmstadt worked at the University of Bremen, Jacobs University, and the Robert-Schuman-Centre for Advanced Studies in Florence/Italy. His current research interests include the theory and history of international organizations, international law, and cosmopolitan political theory. He is particularly interested in non-state actors in global governance and the possibilities of democratizing international political authority. Jens Steffek has published six books and some 50 journal articles and book chapters. He contributed, inter alia, to the European Journal of International Relations, Ethics & International Affairs, International Theory, Millennium, and Review of International Studies. He currently works on a monograph tracing the intellectual history of technocratic internationalism in the 20th century. Jens Steffek held visiting appointments at the University of Cambridge, the University of Montréal, LUISS Guido Carli (Rome), WissenschaftszentrumBerlinand the Max-Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law at Heidelberg. From September 2015 to January 2016 he is a visiting professor in the Department of Political Science, University of Pavia.
The Legitimacy of International Governance
The legitimacy of International Governance: The UN and the Concept of Collective Security
The seminar concentrates on the institutional set-up of the United Nations (UN), the concept of collective security, and the competencies of the Security Council in cases of international conflict. It also addresses the successes and failures of the UN in managing global security.
The Legitimacy of International Governance: The Legitimacy of the UN
Discussion on institutions and procedures of the United Nations from a normative. In particular, the seminar focuses on the questions of the legitimacy of international institutions and their power over states and populations. Not least it gives the chance to reflect on the potential meanings of democracy in a global context.
