The Max Planck Lawcast showcases the academic research being conducted across the various Institutes that comprise the Max Planck Law network. With over 400 leg...
Guest: Antoine Vauchez (University of Paris 1-Sorbonne and Max Planck Law Fellow).
On today’s episode Christopher Murphy is joined by Antoine Vauchez to focus on the re-invention of a central concept of contemporary European democracy, namely that of ‘independence’. Antoine—who heads the Max Planck Law Working Group on ‘Independence and Democracy in the European Union’—traces how the notion of independence has become a highly contested subject within the EU, often culminating in what he terms Europe’s independence wars. From the backsliding of the rule of law in Poland or Hungary to the heated debates over the unconventional monetary policies of the ‘über-independent’ European Central Bank, Antoine demonstrates that how we understand and interpret the notion of independence is at the heart of modern political and legal debate in Europe.
Link to Antoine's paper: https://academic.oup.com/icon/article/20/5/2032/6881104
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34:12
Between Reason and Emotion: The Syriacs' Experience of Law, Identity, and Survival
Guest: Kadir Eryilmaz (Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology).
In this episode, Christopher Murphy talks with Kadir Eryilmaz about his ethnographic field research on the Syriacs, a small and often overlooked community from Turkey. They explore how marginalized groups, like the Syriacs, form their understanding of the law and how their experiences shape their views on human rights. Through real-life examples, they discuss how past interactions with legal authorities shape the way people approach the law today.
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23:21
Seeds of Discord: Inside Apple’s EU Tax Controversy
Guest: Ruth Mason (University of Virginia School of Law and Max Planck Law Fellow).
In a dramatic upset in September 2024, Apple and Ireland lost their state aid case before the European Union’s highest court. This decision—which is set to cost Apple over €13 billion—represents the most expensive state aid recovery ever.
Today's guest, Ruth Mason, offers a play-by-play of the case. The episode takes listeners through the European Commission’s administrative procedure, the judgment of the General Court of the European Union, and finally the judgment of the European Court of Justice. Along the way, it offers criticism of the legal theory the Commission took in the case, as well as insights into Apple’s global tax plan and why that tax plan failed. Broader implications concerning the competitive position of the European Union and the future of US-EU tax relations are also discussed.
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58:53
Breaking Barriers: How Intergroup Contact Can Reduce Discrimination
Guest: Sergio Mittlaender (FGV Law School in São Paulo and Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy).
In this podcast, we explore a fascinating study by Lisa Lenz and Sergio Mittlaender on the effects of intergroup contact on discrimination. Through economic experiments, the researchers investigate how structured interactions between individuals from opposing political groups—Democrats and Republicans—can reduce discrimination, further examining the conditions that are necessary for intergroup contact to be effective. Tune in to discover how this research sheds light on human behaviour and offers valuable insights for policymakers working to foster inclusion, integration, and the reduction of prejudice.
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35:46
Doing It Right, Doing It Wrong - Experimental Evidence on the Expressive Power of Legal Mechanisms
Guest: Mahdi Khesali (Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods).
Normative ambiguity, which stems from conflicting norms, can lead to inefficiency and self-serving behaviour. In this episode, Mahdi Khesali introduces a study that he and his colleague Yoan Hermstrüwer have conducted. Based on a 'stealing game', Mahdi discusses how voting on a given moral norm affects our moral compass. The findings emphasize the importance of expressive law and how effectively-designed voting mechanisms can communicate normative consensus.
(Audio Production: www.citysoundstudio.de)
The Max Planck Lawcast showcases the academic research being conducted across the various Institutes that comprise the Max Planck Law network. With over 400 legal researchers pushing the frontiers of legal knowledge, when it comes to new and exciting legal research the Lawcast has you covered.
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