This book is a concise overall view of the status quo of the bioeconomy and its future developments - in Germany and beyond. Numerous practitioners from business, science, civil society and politics show how the bioeconomy is addressing the global problems of the future. Based on renewable raw materials and energies, the bioeconomy is developing new products and processes with the aim of shaping a more ecologically and economically sustainable future. But can it succeed? What are its opportunities and limitations? Which framework conditions influence it? The book answers these questions with a systemic view of the bioeconomy and thus enables a quick orientation in this topic. This is additionally supported by numerous graphics. The book thus invites readers to help shape the future of the bioeconomy.

This book analyses the German constitutional system's responses towards nuclear energy. Robert Rybski begins with a presentation of energy security as a constitutional value and explores how it connects with nuclear energy. He also examines constitutional standards derived from the German Constitution, which directly regulates nuclear energy issues within the German system of power. The book presents the structure of sources of law that are binding in the area of security of nuclear installations and considers the impact that The European Atomic Energy Community had on the German constitutional system. The final part of the book is devoted to a novel judicial concept of the so-called Restrisiko – a risk that cannot be avoided – which has been developed in the jurisprudence of the Federal Constitutional Court. The essence of this concept is an assumption that as long as the legal framework regulating nuclear energy fulfils conditions formulated in that judgment, then each citizen has to accept risks resulting from the nuclear energy sector.

This book introduces the multilevel perspective to analyze how local, national, and international actors and institutions in the heritage field interact. More specifically, a comparative study is made of controversies regarding six UNESCO World Heritage sites in Germany and the United Kingdom. The six cases involve traditional monuments (the cathedral of Aachen and the castle and cathedral of Durham), industrial heritage (the Zollverein Coal Mine in Essen and the former tin and copper mines in Cornwall), and cities (Dresden and Liverpool). Studying how long-term landscape developments interact with local actors and nationally organized regimes reveals important differences between the decentralized German and the centralized British approach to heritage preservation. These differences not only have consequences for the governance of heritage preservation in the two countries, but also for their relations with international organizations such as UNESCO.

This book is a comparative study of the laws and regulations involving legal and ethical issues related to Artificial Intelligence (AI), in particular for self-driving cars or autonomous vehicles (AVs). It identifies, analyzes, and points out such issues via a study of laws and regulations in India, Germany, and California, determining the legal liabilities of designer, developer/programmer, manufacturer, producer, users, or AI in the case of AVs. AV technology is being touted as one that is poised to bring revolution in the mobility ecosystem by lessening the number of accidents and by providing other benefits, such as potential to reduce traffic, increase safety and mobility, lower energy usage and generate free time. Despite having such a potential to shape and transform the future, and involvement of tech-giants like Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Microsoft, regulations around AI and AVs are still on the drawing board stage in many countries, as they grapple on how to address this issue which has both local and global players involved and affects both local and global populace. The book studies and compares the existing and evolving regulations in three different regions to bring out the lacunae, loopholes and best practices. It highlights when AI deserves legal personhood, and when it requires to be granted legal standing. It also points out the civil and criminal legal liabilities arising when AV is involved in an accident, and the ethical issues involved in the deployment of AI. The book goes beyond new regulations to analyze whether challenges and problems arising from AI technology can be addressed within existing civil and criminal laws - procedural and substantive law - or whether a sui generis law on AI technology is required.

This book explores the foreign and security policies of Germany, France and the UK vis-à-vis China. Despite the progress made by the Lisbon Treaty and notwithstanding the first EU Global Strategy, the European Union does not have a strategy to address the rise of China. Since this strategic deficit does not automatically reflect the level of EU member states, this book argues that the vacuum at EU level provides member states with an opportunity to fill this gap. By assuming that an increase in national policies on China would eventually lead to a comprehensive European strategy for China, the author focuses on the three biggest European countries and looks at the rise of China to understand the development of the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy vis-à-vis the PRC.  While the CFSP depends on the contribution of EU member states, their role in shaping the CFSP towards China has not been researched yet, and this book fills the gap.

Der Ruf nach einer koordinierten Asylpolitik wird angesichts der ungleichen Bedingungen, die Geflüchtete vor und in Europa vorfinden, immer lauter. In diesem Sinne arbeitet die Europäische Union seit Jahren an einem »Gemeinsamen Europäischen Asylsystem«, das gerade auch das Verwaltungshandeln vor Ort verändern soll. Dieser Band stellt die Ergebnisse einer Forschungsstudie vor, die das praktische Arbeiten in deutschen und schwedischen Asylbehörden vergleichend analysiert. Im Fokus stehen dabei die Versuche von Politik und Verwaltung, die Herausforderungen europäischer Asylpolitik über Maßnahmen der grenzüberschreitenden Verwaltungskooperation zu bewältigen.

This book tries to answer the question "What happens if an AI system makes a mistake while contracting?" by applying an interdisciplinary and comparative legal methodology. It offers a tantalizing glimpse into the intricate web of legal, psychological, and technical phenomena involved, and how they are interconnected within the realm of contractual mistake doctrine as we know it today.  It covers a wide range of topics, including the common origins of German and English contract law, the pivotal role of intentions as a prerequisite for effectual contracts in both jurisdictions, the classification of and psychological approach to contractual mistakes, and the complexities of AI's participation in contract law. Particular attention is paid to the juxtaposition of human- and AI-made mistakes from the perspective of information processing. As a result, the book offers a jurisdiction-agnostic framework for AI-made contractual mistakes that can aid legislators and policymakers in their deliberations on the regulation of AI in contract law. The framework considers cultural and historical differences between German and English contract law, and thus proposes an approach that can fit both (and potentially other similar) jurisdictions with minor adjustments.  In addition to these novel discussions, the work explores the views of prominent scholars and international experts in the field. As such, it will appeal to researchers and scholars in the fields of law, technology, psychology, and (especially) Artificial Intelligence.

This book aims to present a coherent picture of Germany's European policy during Merkel's chancellorship. At the same time, it traces the development of the EU in the period 2005-2021. Accordingly, the European crises and the internal and external threats to the integration community are addressed, as well as the jointly developed solutions. Thus, on the one hand, the book shows what Germany was willing to do for Europe; on the other, it reveals how the EU was able to develop further as the most important point of reference for German politics and power.

Die Frage, ob dem verhaltenssteuernden Potential des Strafrechts auch in der Bekampfung des Klimawandels eine Rolle zukommen kann, wurde bislang kaum erortert. Ausgehend von dem Zusammenspiel von Verbots- und Sanktionsnormen erfolgt diesbezuglich eine ganzheitliche Betrachtung, die verschiedenste Blickwinkel aus dem breiten Spektrum der gesamten Strafrechtswissenschaften vereint und damit die Grundlage fur den weiteren wissenschaftlichen Austausch zu einem "Klimastrafrecht" bietet.

On October 3, 1990 the future of both Europe and Germany became powerfully and inexorably intertwined across a politically broadened continent powering transformative social, political and economic interactions. The thirty year mark after the then reigning chancellor Helmut Kohl promised 'flourishing landscapes' in the former GDR is more than just a new anniversary from which mandatory reflections must follow. Arguably, it represents a temporal boundary between the adjustments and reactions conditioned and captivated by a sense of something new and uncertain, and that point moving forward from which unification’s legacy inescapably tethers Germany’s future to normal politics shaped by the issues of the moment, and not politics gripped by the debates of unification itself. That legacy is defined by an accumulation over thirty years of adjustments, mutations, counter-adjustments and strategic reactions which have now delivered through the many ripples of change a Germany managing the course-trajectory which unification has relentlessly plotted. The foreseeable future will certainly see that legacy of unification tenaciously continue to project yet shrouded within the background of Germany’s routine politics. This volume explores that legacy within the post-unification era and reflects on the way forward into a near-term German future no longer consumed with unification itself but with the reality of politics it has steadily defined.

This book examines the increasing body of research dedicated to the lasting differences between the former separate states of the Federal German Republic (FRG) and the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, it takes a broad view on German unification and transformation research. Transformation and unification processes in East and West Germany are still ongoing, and they may serve as a model for social change and its political, economic, and psychological consequences. Using advanced statistical methods of analysis, this edited volume provides insights into the valuable contextualization of individual and social phenomena that current research on German unification and transformation is producing.