Description of DTIEV

Overview:

The Dimitris-Tsatsos-Institute of European Constitutional Sciences is an interdisciplinary department of the larger Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Social Sciences and Cultural Studies established by the FernUniversitaet in Hagen (Germany).

In April 2003 the institute was founded under the name of “Institute of European Constitutional Sciences” (IEV, Institut für europäische Verfassungswissenschaften). In spring of 2011 in honour of Prof. Dr. Dr. hc mult. Dimitris Tsatsos († April 2010), the initiator, founder member and later Honorary Director of the IEV, the Management Board and the participating faculties concordantly decided to rename the institute posthumously as Dimitris-Tsatsos-Institute of European Constitutional Sciences (DTIEV, Dimitris-Tsatsos-Institut für Europäische Verfassungswissenschaften).

The Dimitris-Tsatsos-Institute of European Constitutional Sciences was founded to be an interdisciplinary institution that mainly is engaged in three different fields of study: law, historiography and political science. It aims to track the integrative development of an European Constitution in an interdisciplinary way.

The DTIEV conducts research on the subject of constitutional studies. It analyses the historical and current development of the European and the national constitutional law, analyses and compares constitutional approaches in theory and practice as well as it aims to find practical solutions for constitutional problems. Thereby the contact between science and politics shall also be established. The results of this research shall find their way into teaching.

Major tasks of the DTIEV:

- Documentation and evaluation of historical, political and legal sources of the constitutional orders in Europe;

- Documentation of the history of a European Constitution and the efforts to practice;

- Comparative research regarding the emergence, current condition, effects and rhetoric of national and European Constitutional Law;

- Contributions to the development of the European Constitutional Discussion through own publications;

- Promotion of scientific interchange as well as the interchange of ideas with practice.

Within the scope of its tasks the DTIEV is pursuing the collaboration with other national and international scientific institutions.

The DTIEV is represented in the ECLN (European Constitutional Law Network).

In cooperation with the Centre for European Constitutional Law in Athens (CECL, Themistokles and Dimitris Tsatsos Foundation) the DTIEV has launched the “Dimitris Tsatsos-Prize”, awarded to distinguished personalities who have made an outstanding contribution to the field of European Constitutional Sciences.