On this site, we want to present our four research strands in further detail. If you want to find out more about a specific project, just click on the tick.
1. Accountability
The research theme “Ensure accountability” is concerned with the judicial review of expanding European security and defence activities. Viewed for decades as a matter of executive decision-making with minimal judicial involvement, we now witness a shift toward the judicial “normalisation” of European security and defence. In projects covering different legal fields and focussing on different judicial actors (CJEU, ECtHR, ICC, national constitutional courts, etc.), ENSURE unpacks how accountability patterns are evolving.
(De-) constitutionalisation of the EU’s internal and external security policies
Dr. Carolyn Moser has continued her work on the CJEU and its review of EU security policies. Partly building on the insights from her prize-winning monograph (Accountability in EU Security and Defence, OUP, 2020), she co-authored a journal article with Prof. Berthold Rittberger (LMU Munich) which was published in ICON in 2022. It deals with the (de-) constitutionalisation of the EU’s internal and external security policies – namely Justice and Home Affairs, on the one hand, and the Common Foreign and Security Policy, on the other – via jurisprudence from Luxembourg.
International crime in Europe
Dr. Kerttuli Lingenfelter analyses the changing accountability landscape for international crimes in Europe, with a special focus on the prosecution of crimes committed by Russsians in the war on Ukraine. This is in line with her overall postdoctoral project, which deals with the aspects of European security related to crime and crime control, particularly extraterritorial jurisdiction and law enforcement cooperation. Her research on (novel) international criminal law actors, instruments, and operational as well as regulatory modalities has, so far, been published in the HJIL/ZaöRV and on the Verfassungsblog.
Judicial control by the ECtHR
Dr. Sofia Vandenbosch’s research adds an additional analytical layer to ENSURE’s portfolio on accountability: in her post-doctoral project, she sets out to test the hypothesis that the ECtHR has been strengthening judicial control at the national level over external military operations abroad by combining doctrinal legal research with insights from the sociology of law and comparative law. In this context, Sofia has conducted research on the political question doctrine in the case-law of the Strasbourg and Luxembourg Courts, which has led to a comparative analysis that was published on the Verfassungsblog in autumn 2024.
2. Democracy
Democratic scrutiny regarding security and defence have become all the more pressing in the face of heightened geopolitical tensions, which have led to greater European cooperation and integration in a policy area traditionally led by the executive. What is the impact of the resurgence of conflict in Europe on parliamentary scrutiny, for example? Further, how can we ensure an effective and responsive security and defence policy that does not undermine the democratic and normative foundations of our political systems? ENSURE conducts research to address the matter of democracy at both the national and EU level.
National parliaments’ control on foreign affairs
Dr. Sofia Vandenbosch, a specialist of constitutional law and the law of external relations in a comparative perspective, examines the role of national parliaments. Building on her PhD thesis (forthcoming as a book), which dealt with national parliaments’ control on foreign affairs and questioned the longstanding “foreign affairs exceptionalism”, she analysed with Prof. Marc Verdussen (UCLouvain) how Belgian constitutional law deals with matters of war and defence from a parliamentary perspective, with a special emphasis on controlling military missions abroad. This analysis has been published in the Annuaire international de justice constitutionnelle (2024) together with country reports from more than 25 legal orders.
Role of the European Parliament in relation to security and defence dossiers
With her expertise in EU law and governance, Dr. Carolyn Moser studied in detail the role of the European Parliament (EP) in relation to security and defence dossiers. In an in-depth study commissioned by the EP, she collaborated with her colleague Prof. Steven Blockmans (CEPS) to assess the institution’s formal and informal prerogatives regarding defence matters. In their 2022 study , they demonstrated that the EP inherently holds an ex ante and ex post scrutiny role in the EU’s security and defence policy that goes beyond what is generally assumed in the literature and in practice. A substantially revised, enlarged and updated article version of the study was published in the ZaöRV at the end of 2024.
European response to foreign interference
(Erläuterung)
3. Diplomacy
In the context of tightening geopolitical conditions, Europeans also revisit their diplomatic toolkit with a view to promoting and protecting their values and interests. ENSURE’s research covers both the “external” and the “internal” opportunities and challenges for the EU’s international actorness.
The EU’s contribution to building security architectures
In his work, Dr. Christian Schultheiss identifies innovative institutional solutions that stakeholders in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Indo-Pacific develop to share, govern, and rule the ocean. In particular, he looks at the EU’s normative and diplomatic clout in shaping these solutions. While the limitations of the EU’s geopolitical footprint are frequently in the spotlight, much less is known about how the Union contributes to building security architectures through technical assistance, capacity training, and the provision of new technologies. Hence, in his post-doctoral project, he has explores how seemingly unassuming technical assistance (such as affordable satellite pictures, Artificial Intelligence, and information-sharing tools) affects the design and configuration of regional security organisations, coalition choices and, ultimately, the security architecture in the Indian Ocean Region.
The EU terror list
At the cross-roads of law and politics, Lukas Märtin (member of ENSURE in 2023) analysed EU sanctions and, more specifically, whether and how contested actors can be put on the EU Terror List. His research has led to a journal article, published in the HJIL/ZaöRV, on the potential terror listing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the intricate role of law in that context.
4. Capability
Ensuring capability has to do with both adapting institutions to changing conditions and providing the necessary tools for effective policy implementation.
Use of transnational and international procedures, partnerships, and institutions for prosecution and adjudication
As part of her post-doctoral project, Dr. Kerttuli Lingenfelter scrutinises how different European actors create and use transnational and international procedures, partnerships, and institutions for prosecution and adjudication. Next to its accountability facet, this research also carries an important capability dimension: the enlargement of the mandates of law enforcement agencies or the establishment of transnational databases for collecting evidence are important vectors for stimulating capacity-building (regardless of the governance credentials of these novelties).
Maritime security in the Indo-Pacific
Dr. Christian Schultheiss explores how EU capacity-building efforts in the Indo-Pacific regarding maritime security (re-) shape the existing security architecture. In particular, he continues his work on the CRIMARIO project of the EU – a project which he was asked to evaluate for the European Commission (2024).
Capability in a broad sense
An important part of Dr. Carolyn Moser’s research circles around capability issues in a broad sense. How does the geopolitical awakening of the EU affect European security and defence? How are the existing mandates of different national and European actors adjusted and multi-level competence arrangements revisited to allow for swift and effective action?
The profound changes to Europe’s security and defence landscape in the aftermath of the Russian invasion in Ukraine offers a perfect terrain for studying these questions. So far, she has produced several publications (journal articles, blogposts, contributions to edited volumes) on the law and governance repercussions of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, studying inter alia developments at the European and EU level (strategies, innovations in sanctions, deployments, financing streams and defence industrial projects) as well as at the national level (with a focus on the German Zeitenwende and its potential implications for Franco-German relations and German constitutional law).
