Œuvre
My publications focus on four central areas: (1) democracy, (2) political theory, (3) history of ideas, and (4) the relationship between politics and law. A complete list of publications can be found here. It includes some thirty books and over 160 articles.
Because of their programmatic nature, the following publications are representative of my work in the four areas:
Democracy: Oliver W. Lembcke, Claudia Ritzi & Gary S. Schaal (eds.). Zeitgenössische Demokratietheorie. 2 Bde. (Bd. 1: Normative Demokratietheorien. Bd. 2: Empirische Demokratietheorien). Wiesbaden: VS Verlag, 2012/2016.
Democracy – understood as the political self-determination of a people – is the noblest task and the central object of political theory. This two-volume textbook systematically introduces contemporary normative and empirical democratic theory.
Political Theory: Verena Frick & Oliver W. Lembcke (eds.). Hermann Hellers demokratischer Konstitutionalismus. Wiesbaden: VS Springer, 2022.
A lawyer by training and a teacher of constitutional law, Hermann Heller advocates a democratic constitutionalism that combines the reality of democracy with the normativity of law. What makes Heller’s work particularly fruitful is the combination of constitutional law, political science, and sociology, which makes the complex reality of democracy tangible.
History of Political Ideas: Oliver W. Lembcke & Florian Weber (eds.). Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès: Political Writings, Leiden & Boston: Brill, 2014/2023 (ebook).
Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès occupies a prominent place within the history of political thought. He stands at the forefront of both the discourses on human rights and on democratic constitutionalism. And yet, because of his theory of the constituent power, he holds a somewhat ambivalent reputation as an advocate of permanent revolution. […] The edition Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès: The Essential Political Writings […] seeks to portray Sieyès, against the backdrop of an enlarged textual corpus, as a moderate proponent of the constitutional State.
Politics and Law: Together with the jurist and legal philosopher Prof. Dr. Rolf Gröschner (Emeritus, FSU Jena) I edit the publication series POLITIKA at the publishing house Mohr Siebeck (Tübingen). It is a series for transdisciplinary studies in the field of politics and law.
POLITICA with »K«. The series title thus recalls the Aristotelian “politika” and their concern to understand the concerns of citizenship, and to do so with scholarly intent. The series connects the old European basic question of the success of common life in a political or – in the Latin tradition synonymous – republican order with the contemporary problems of liberal constitutions and brings the freedom of all into a dynamic balance with the freedom of all individuals.
Recently published:
- Band 22 »Wege der Würde. Philosophenwege – Rechtswege – Auswege« (ed. by Rolf Gröschner, Stephan Kirste, and Oliver W. Lembcke)
- Band 23 »Die schwache Gewalt? Zur Behauptung judikativer Autorität« (hrsg. von Till Patrik Holterhus und Fabian Michl).