nam 22 uu 4500 10.17176/20201013-113337-0 DE-Verfassungsblog cr||||| 201013s2020||||xx#|||||o|||| ||| 0|eng|| 10.17176/20201013-113337-0 doi eng 342 23 Sonnevend, Pál Author aut How Not to Become Hegemonial Self-preservation through Verfassungsdogmatik Sonnevend, Pál Verfassungsblog 2020-10-13 Text txt rdacontent Computermedien c rdamedia Online-Ressource cr rdacarrier I have to start with a confession: if it was not for the Bundesverfassungsgericht and German legal scholarship, I would have not become the lawyer I am today. Writing a PhD in the Max-Planck-Institute in Heidelberg, attending classes by giants of German public law taught me to appreciate the famous German “Rechtsdogmatik”, a term that can only be poorly translated by “legal doctrine”. The conceptual sophistication and clarity of thoughts, the persuasive power of reasoning, the attention for details and the elegance with which the lack of answers to certain questions is concealed created for me an aura of infallibility and self-evident truth. I also remember my condescending attitude when I met foreign guests in the Max-Planck Institute who were not familiar enough with this constitutional language, or even dared to challenge some of its conclusions. Being inside this world felt reassuring, safe and also elevating. After wandering through the legal education of post-communist Hungary I finally saw the light. funded by the government CC BY-SA 4.0 German Federal Constitutional Court Hegemony Verfassungsdogmatik Max Steinbeis Verfassungsblog gGmbH Verfassungsblog 2366-7044 https://staging.verfassungsblog.de/how-not-to-become-hegemonial/ raw object