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. Published
  2. Published

    Praising the leader: personalist legitimation strategies and the deterioration of executive constraints

    Brunkert, L. & von Soest, C., 01.03.2023, In: Democratization. 30, 3, p. 419-439 21 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  3. Published

    Potential duration of unemployment benefits and labor market outcomes for older workers with health impairments in Germany

    Petrunyk, I. & Pfeifer, C., 01.2023, In: Bulletin of Economic Research. 75, 1, p. 111-118 8 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  4. Published

    Potent executives: the electoral strength of prime ministers in Central Eastern Europe

    Berz, J. G., 02.10.2019, In: East European Politics. 35, 4, p. 517-537 21 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  5. E-pub ahead of print

    Poststrukturalistische Hegemonietheorie

    Séville, A., 18.05.2025, Handbuch Theorien der Soziologie . Delitz, H., Müller, J. & Seyfert, R. (eds.). Wiesbaden: Springer VS

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksContributions to collected editions/anthologiesResearchpeer-review

  6. Published

    Poststrukturalistische Diskurs- und Hegemonietheorie: Die Veränderbarkeit der Ordnung: mit Laclau und Mouffe für Politik und Kontingenz

    Séville, A., 2017, Politische Bildung meets Politische Theorie. Gloe, M. & Oeftering, T. (eds.). Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, p. 245-260 16 p. (Votum. Beiträge zur politischen Bildung und Politikwissenschaft; vol. 1).

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksChapter

  7. Published

    Post-sozialistische Regierungssystemreform: Armenien, Kroatien, Russland und die Ukraine im Vergleich

    Seha, E., 2015, 1 ed. Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG. 343 p. (Comparative Politics; vol. 4)

    Research output: Books and anthologiesMonographsResearchpeer-review

  8. Published

    Possible future space debris mitigation and removal legal, regulatory and technical scenarios

    Antonetti, S., Toson, E., Smith, L. J., La Regina, V. & Emanuelli, M., 13.06.2016, In: Proceedings of the International Astronautical Congress, IAC. 2016, IAC-16,A6,8,9,x35151.

    Research output: Journal contributionsConference article in journalResearchpeer-review

  9. Published

    Positionen einer politischen Strategieanalyse

    Raschke, J. & Tils, R., 2010, Strategie in der Politikwissenschaft: Konturen eines neuen Forschungsfelds. Raschke, J. & Tils, R. (eds.). Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, p. 351-388 38 p.

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksContributions to collected editions/anthologiesResearch

  10. Published

    Positional income concerns and personality: evidence from Germany

    Friehe, T., Mechtel, M. & Pannenberg, M., 16.08.2018, In: Applied Economics Letters. 25, 14, p. 1024-1028 5 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review