RTG 2483: Dynamic Integration - Law in-between Harmonisation and Plurality in Europe (DynamInt)

The traditional paradigm of an ever-closer Union has been facing trends of disintegration. Most recently, encompassing and far-reaching crises such as the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and climate change, as well as the escalation in challenging the rule of law and power shifts in the digital sphere have been threatening to destabilise the European integration project. However, these very crises have the potential to act as a catalyst for further steps in European integration. Against this backdrop, European Law must take on the role of finding a new equilibrium between harmonisation and pluralisation to ensure dynamic processes of integration. The critical analysis of the interplay between harmonisation and pluralisation as well as the development of rules, principles and institutions that can work as conceptual gateways require systematic research to inspire a vision of integration that is open and flexible. DynamInt analyses these dimensions from the perspective of legal scholarship. Its research agenda is to reveal concrete and meaningful elements of a dynamic integration order. In line with the European scope of its research goal and its aim to conduct basic research, DynamInt’s methodological approach is international and interdisciplinary. Both features have strong institutional foundations. Firstly, DynamInt is situated within the outstanding network of leading universities in Europe united in the European Law School (ELS), where it acts as joint infrastructure for doctoral training. This cooperation transcends the narrow German legal scholarship discourse and incorporates insights from other European jurisdictions. Secondly, DynamInt strongly encourages its researchers to examine the historical, economic, philosophical and social dimensions of the legal questions posed. For this purpose, scientists with specific interdisciplinary profiles were chosen to lead DynamInt, a specific event format was created, and an interdisciplinary board installed. Interdisciplinary cooperation was, additionally, ingrained through close cooperation with the Law & Society Institute Berlin. A comprehensive qualification programme – developed with DynamInt’s doctoral students – ensures the incorporation of international perspectives and insight from other disciplines. This concept transcends the typical division within legal scholarship (private, public, criminal), which, from a heuristic point of view, has its merits but remains insufficient with respect to DynamInt’s research perspective. With its new approach, DynamInt strives to trigger innovative ideas and perspectives. The research training group is structured in four clusters of content and methods: (1) Establishing standards across jurisdictions, (2) Impulses of harmonisation and pluralisation in comparison, (3) Diffusive harmonisation and (4) Pluralisation and harmonisation incidental to the subject matter of legislation. They were developed from the cross-cutting themes of the first period of funding.