Law

Global value chains exist in the blind spots of legal doctrine and are hence marked by a diffusion of responsibility. For private law, this entails a methodological challenge that is exemplary for dealing with globalisation - that is, to apprehend global value chains in both their economic and societal dynamics.

The obligation to conduct a suitability test is the most important legal instrument for protecting retail investors when it comes to investment advice. Zeno Wirtz examines the question of whether the quality of suitability tests can be enhanced by using digital technologies and argues for a legal obligation to implement them.

Current anti-discrimination legislation does not fully reflect actual cases of discrimination and where different grounds intersect inseparably, a gap in protection appears. Anna Kristin Biedermann reveals the social power structures underlying the law and illustrates the need to close this gap. Looking to EU law, she comes up with a legally feasible way to anchor such cases of intersectional discrimination in the private employment relationship.

Intra-party democracy is intra-party competitive democracy. German constitutional democracy can be described as a system of a competitive aggregation of interests. The German Basic Law incorporates this concept of competitive democracy into political parties; it shapes their decision-making processes and aims to establish the basis for free and equal intra-party competition. In his thesis, the author deals with the question of whether or not this actually works.