Prof. Dr. Markus Patberg

Since 2026: Professor of Political Theory and History of Ideas, University of Greifswald

2021 – 2026: Research Associate, Political Theory, University of Hamburg

2024 – 2025: Guest Professor of Political and Legal Theory, FU Berlin

2025: Visiting Researcher, Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona

2023 – 2024: Interim Professor of Political Theory, University of Münster

2016 – 2021: Postdoctoral Researcher (from 04/2020 Principal Investigator), DFG project "Reclaiming Constituent Power? Emerging Counter-Narratives of EU Constitutionalisation", University of Hamburg

2018: Visiting Fellow, European Institute, LSE, London

2016: PhD in Political Science, University of Hamburg

2013 – 2016: Research Associate, Political Theory, University of Hamburg

2012 – 2013: Visiting PhD Researcher, UCL, London

2011 – 2012: Research Associate, Political Theory, TU Darmstadt

2009 – 2011: M.A. Political Theory, Goethe-University Frankfurt/TU Darmstadt

2010: Visiting Student, New School for Social Research, New York City

2006 – 2009: B.A. Political Science, TU Darmstadt

Books

• 2026: Politische Theorie zur Einführung. Hamburg: Junius (Link).
   
• 2020: Constituent Power in the European Union. Oxford: Oxford University Press (Link). 
  
  Reviews by Joel Colón-Ríos and Lucia Rubinelli in Constellations, Rafael Macía Briedis in European Constitutional Law Review, Michal Matlak in Contemporary Political Theory, and Massimo Fichera in Common Market Law Review. Podcast/interview on the book with the Review of Democracy. Video presentation on the Diritti Comparati vlog.
   
• 2018: Usurpation und Autorisierung. Konstituierende Gewalt im globalen Zeitalter. Frankfurt am Main/New York: Campus (Reihe “Theorie und Gesellschaft”) (Link).
  
  Book symposium with contributions by Rainer Schmalz-Bruns, Esther Neuhann and Andreas Busen and my Reply at Theorieblog. Reviews by Christian Kreuder-Sonnen in Soziopolis and by Verena Frick in Politische Vierteljahresschrift.

Journal articles (peer reviewed)

• 2025: What is Social Media’s Place in Democracy? The Review of Politics 87 (2): 236-257 (Link).
• 2025: Treaty Withdrawal and Institutional Regression. What Role for the Democratic Underlabourer? Journal of International Political Theory 21 (2): 252-267 (Link).
• 2024: Farewell to Constituent Power? The Conference on the Future of Europe, Citizens’ Assemblies, and the Democratic Minimum.  Global Constitutionalism 13 (2): 411-428 (Link).
• 2023: Exit-Politik als Regression. Wider den souveränen Voluntarismus. Leviathan 51 (Sonderband 40): 170-192 (with S. Ahlhaus) (Link).
• 2021: The Democratic Ambivalence of EU Disintegration. A Mapping of Costs and Benefits. Swiss Political Science Review 27 (3): 601-618 (Link).
• 2020: Can Disintegration Be Democratic? The European Union between Legitimate Change and Regression. Political Studies 68 (3): 582-599 (Link).
• 2020: Extraordinary Partisanship in the European Union. Constituent Power and the Problem of Political Agency. Constellations 27 (1): 143-157 (Link).
• 2019: Destituent Power in the European Union. On the Limits of a Negativistic Logic of Constitutional Politics. Journal of International Political Theory 15 (1): 82-99 (Link).
• 2018: After the Brexit Vote. What's Left of 'Split' Popular Sovereignty? Journal of European Integration 40 (7): 923-937 (Link).
• 2018: Challenging the Masters of the Treaties. Emerging Narratives of Constituent Power in the European Union. Global Constitutionalism 7 (2): 263-293 (Link).
• 2017: A Systematic Justification for the EU’s Pouvoir Constituant Mixte. Principles of Constitutional Politics in Supranational Polities. European Law Journal 23 (6): 441-453 (Link).
• 2017: Constituent Power. A Discourse-Theoretical Solution to the Conflict between Openness and Containment. Constellations 24 (1): 51-62 (Link).
• 2017: The Levelling Up of Constituent Power in the European Union. Journal of Common Market Studies 55 (2): 203-212 (Link).
• 2016: Against Democratic Intergovernmentalism. The Case for a Theory of Constituent Power in the Global Realm. International Journal of Constitutional Law 14 (3): 622-638 (Link).
• 2015: Konstituierende Autorität. Ein Grundbegriff für die Internationale Politische Theorie. Zeitschrift für Politische Theorie 6 (2): 159-172 (with P. Niesen & S. Ahlhaus) (Link).
• 2013: Suprastaatliche Verfassungspolitik und die Methode der rationalen Rekonstruktion. Zeitschrift für Politische Theorie 4 (1): 80-98 (Link). Reprint: Der Staat 53 (3): 401-424 (Link).
  _{English translation:} 
  2014: Supranational Constitutional Politics and the Method of Rational Reconstruction. Philosophy & Social Criticism 40 (6): 501-521 (Link).
• 2013: Constituent Power beyond the State. An Emerging Debate in International Political Theory. Millennium – Journal of International Studies 42 (1): 224-238 (Link).
• 2013: Zwei Modelle empirischer Legitimitätsforschung. Eine Replik auf Michael Zürns Gastbeitrag in der PVS 4/2011. Politische Vierteljahresschrift 54 (1): 155-172 (Link).

Edited work

• 2026: The Oxford Handbook of Constituent Power. Oxford: Oxford University Press (with P. Niesen & L. Rubinelli) (Link).
• 2025: Special Issue: The Democratic Underlabourer. From the Domestic to the International Level. Journal of International Political Theory 21 (2): 118-297 (mit S. Ahlhaus & O. Eberl) (Link).
• 2021: Special Issue: Democratic Challenges of Differentiated (Dis)Integration. Swiss Political Science Review 27 (3): 539-681 (with S. Kröger) (Link).
• 2017: Symposium: The EU’s Pouvoir Constituant Mixte. Journal of Common Market Studies 55 (2): 165-222 (Link).

Chapters in edited volumes

• Forthcoming: Rationale Rekonstruktion. In: Huhnholz, Sebastian/Fischer, Karsten (Hrsg.): Handbuch Methoden der Politischen Theorie und Ideengeschichte. Berlin: Springer VS.
• 2026: Exit: Secession and Withdrawal. In: Niesen, Peter/Patberg, Markus/Rubinelli, Lucia (eds.): The Oxford Handbook of Constituent Power. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 545-554 (Link).
• 2026: The Revival of Constituent Power. In: Niesen, Peter/Patberg, Markus/Rubinelli, Lucia (eds.): The Oxford Handbook of Constituent Power. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1-18 (mit P. Niesen und L. Rubinelli) (Link).
• 2019: Habermas und die Europäische Union. Beiträge zu einer Diskurstheorie supranationaler Demokratie. In: Corchia, Luca/Müller-Doohm, Stefan/Outhwaite, William (eds.): Habermas global. Wirkungsgeschichte eines Werks. Berlin: Suhrkamp, 288-301 (Link).
  _{Englisch version (revised and extended):}
  2025: Habermas and the European Union. Contributions to a Discourse Theory of Supranational Democracy. In: Outhwaite, William/Ray, Larry (eds.): The Elgar Companion to Jürgen Habermas. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 194-208 (Link).
• 2018: Formwandel oder Desintegration? Zur Möglichkeit eines demokratischen Neuanfangs in der Europäischen Union. In: Volk, Christian/Thaa, Winfried (eds.): Formwandel der Demokratie. Baden-Baden: Nomos, forthcoming.
• 2014: Souveränität als Kompetenzdistribution. Zum Konzept der suprastaatlichen Verfassungspolitik. In: Volk, Christian/Kuntz, Friederike (eds.): Der Begriff der Souveränität in der transnationalen Konstellation. Baden-Baden: Nomos, 81-107 (Link).
• 2014: Extraordinary Politics and the Democratic Legitimacy of International Human Rights Courts. In: Føllesdal, Andreas/Maliks, Reidar (eds.): Kantian Theory and Human Rights. New York/London: Routledge, 130-152 (Link).
• 2012: Von der verfassunggebenden zur konstitutionalisierenden Gewalt. Die demokratische Legitimität völkerrechtlicher Konstitutionalisierung. In: Fassbender, Bardo/Siehr, Angelika (eds.): Suprastaatliche Konstitutionalisierung. Perspektiven auf die Legitimität, Kohärenz und Effektivität des Völkerrechts. Baden-Baden: Nomos, 23-56 (with S. Ahlhaus) (Link).

Reviews, comments, replies (selection)

• 2025: The Democratic Purpose of Social Media: Empowering Civil Society. The Loop, 25.04.25 (Link).
• 2023: Digital Fragmentation. Habermas on the New Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere. Review of Democracy, 02.02.23 (Link).
• 2022: Republicanism, EU Democracy and Differentiated (Dis-)Integration. European Journal of Political Theory 21 (1): 178-186 (Link).
• 2021: Emergency Politics after Globalization (with M. Heupel, M. Koenig-Archibugi, C. Kreuder-Sonnen, A. Séville, J. Steffek, J. White). International Studies Review 23(4): 1959-1987 (Link).
• 2021: The Conference on the Future of Europe Lacks a Clear Conception of Democratic Authorisation. The Loop, 29.03.21 (Link). German version: DVPW-Blog, 15.04.21 (Link).
• 2020: Dealing with a Complex Family Tree. Reflections on Lucia Rubinelli’s “Constituent Power: A History”. Verfassungsblog, 20.12.20 (Link).
• 2020: Bruce Ackerman, Revolutionary Constitutions. Charismatic Leadership and the Rule of Law. Constellations 27 (2): 326-328 (Link).
• 2020: Mehr als nur ein schillerndes Etikett? Review of “Radikale Demokratietheorie. Ein Handbuch”, ed. Dagmar Comtesse, Oliver Flügel-Martinsen, Franziska Martinsen, Martin Nonhoff. Soziopolis, 12.02.20 (Link).
• 2019: Constituent Power and Struggles for Representation in a Global Context. A Comment on Hans Lindahl’s “Authority and the Globalisation of Inclusion and Exclusion”. Etica & Politica 21 (3): 397-402 (Link).
• 2019: Brexit and the Democratic Puzzle of Disintegration. Political Studies Association Blog, 15.10.19 (Link).
• 2018: Zur rationalen Rekonstruktion der Praxis demokratischer Verfassunggebung – Replik des Autors. Theorieblog, 26.11.18 (Link).
• 2018: After Brexit, the UK Should Have a Democratic Right of Return. LSE Brexit, 30.10.18 (with P. Niesen) (Link).
• 2018: Beherrschung und Sezession. Andreas Oldenbourgs ZPTh-Artikel in der Diskussion. Theorieblog, 15.05.18 (Link).
• 2018: Brexit, as a Democratic Exercise, Prompts the Need for a Normative Theory of Political Disintegration. LSE Brexit, 28.03.18 (Link).