School of Public Affairs

Organisational unit: Research School

Organisation profile

Leuphana School of Public Affairs is the academic and professional home to 1.000 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral students and 31 professors. 30 research associates and 17 professional staff members are working for us.

The main themes of the school are reflected in its study programs: The School of Public Affairs is currently responsible for three Majors and four Minors at Leuphana College, five Master’s programmes and five Doctoral research groups at Leuphana Graduate School as well as five continuing education Master's programmes at Leuphana Professional School. As a novelty in Germany, the Master of Law offers students the opportunity to obtain both a Master's degree in law (LL.M.) as well as the state law examination. With its emphasis on "Law in Context", this model degree programme transcends a classic-dogmatic perspective of jurisprudence by presenting the relevant contents from civil law, public law and criminal law against the backdrop of current societal challenges and transformations. 

Main research areas

Leuphana School of Public Affairs brings together the disciplines of Political Science, Law, and Economics under one roof. With 31 professorships, it establishes an innovative profile in Germany on issues of public affairs, gaining both national and international visibility and academic reputation.

The School conducts research on the major transformations of our time and thus continues to develop its existing research agenda on the future of democracy, evidence-based political decision-making and law in the context of societal transformation. In an interdisciplinary collaborative endeavour, the three subjects will, among other things, answer pressing questions about

  • the legitimacy and performance of democracies, whose integrative power is under threat, especially in light of recent upheavals in politics and society,
  • the role of the state with regard to the relationship between private-law and public-law regulation,
  • the justification of governmental intervention into market processes and their ex-post evaluation.
  1. 2025
  2. Published

    Forced exit from the joint-decision trap: US power and the harmonisation of company taxation in the EU

    Hakelberg, L., 2025, In: Journal of European Public Policy. 32, 6, p. 1414-1438 25 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  3. Published

    Fortgeschrittenenklausur – Öffentliches Recht: Verwaltungsprozessrecht und Polizeirecht – Bombenalarm im Biergarten

    Gerlach, J., 2025, In: Juristische Schulung. 2025, 3, p. 246-253 8 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesEducation

  4. Published

    Is There Such a Thing as Transnational Family Law?

    Croon-Gestefeld, J., 2025, In: Rabels Zeitschrift für ausländisches und internationales Privatrecht (RabelsZ). 89, 1, p. 35-58 24 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  5. Published

    Kollektive Tendenzen im Privatrecht

    Croon-Gestefeld, J., 2025, Individualität und Kollektivität: Deutsche und japanische Perspektiven auf Recht, Kultur und Rechtskultur. Kurishima, T., Wolff, D. & Kaspar, J. (eds.). Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck Verlag, p. 177-197 21 p.

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksArticle in conference proceedingsResearchpeer-review

  6. Published

    Radikalisierung durch Verschwörungstheorien: Zum Umgang mit einem demokratiegefährdenden Phänomen

    Séville, A. (Editor), 2025, 1 ed. Frankfurt/M: Wochenschau-Verlag. 173 p. (Wochenschau Wissenschaft)

    Research output: Books and anthologiesConference proceedingsResearch

  7. Published
  8. Accepted/In press

    Social cohesion and the inclination towards conspiracy mentality: comparing Germany and the Visegrad countries

    Hartz, C., Deutsch, F., Boehnke, K., Klicperova-Baker, M., Brezina, I., Šrol, J., Čavojová, V. K., Jakab, Z., Przybylski, W., Maftean, M. R. & Turska-Kawa, A., 2025, (Accepted/In press) In: Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  9. Published

    The Age of Open Strategic Autonomy

    Fechter, J. (Editor) & Wiesenthal, J. (Editor), 2025, Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft. 270 p.

    Research output: Books and anthologiesConference proceedingsResearch

  10. Accepted/In press

    The electoral appeal of symbolic class signalling through cultural consumption

    Weisstanner, D. & Engler, S., 2025, (Accepted/In press) In: British Journal of Political Science.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  11. Published

    The principle of unjust enrichment

    Schall, A., 2025, Walter de Gruyter. 362 p.

    Research output: Books and anthologiesBook