ERC Consolidator Grant for Dr. Steffen Hurka

Dr. Steffen Hurka was successful in the latest round of ERC grants, obtaining a Consolidator Grant. The award comes with funding of up to 2 million euros. ERC Consolidator Grants are aimed at researchers who want to consolidate their independence by establishing a research team and continuing to develope a successful career.

Democracies are constantly faced with the difficult task of bringing together the most diverse world views, interests and values in coherent legislation. Given the increasingly hostile political climate around the world, this has never been more difficult. However, although laws are crucial to the legitimacy of democratic governments, knowledge about the relationship between their design and their longevity is still limited.

In his project "The Design, Creation and Survival of Democratic Laws" (DEMOLAW), Hurka analyzes legal texts from three different political systems (USA, UK, EU) using state-of-the-art methods of data analysis to find out what makes some laws stable over time, while others are constantly adapted and often fundamentally changed. Why does the design of democratic legislation differ depending on the law, policy area, political system and over time? And how can we find benchmarks for this? The approach should not only provide a theoretical framework, but also pave the way for a computer-aided analysis of legislative content and thus improve the study of democratic decision-making.