Daniel Thym is an active member of the editorial boards of the ‘Zeitschrift für Ausländerrecht and Ausländerpolitik’ (Journal on Migration Law and Policy) and the ‘Schriftenreihe zum Migrationsrecht’ (Book Series on Migration), which are published with Nomos. The journal, which is widely known under its acronym ‘ZAR’, has been the central forum for German-language debates since the 1980s. The book series, established in 2009, covers important monographs, such as quality PhDs, including by researchers of the FZAA.
One can easily get lost in the ‘jungle’ of European migration law, which is defined by an ever-increasing complexity with more than three dozen directives and regulations, numerous court judgments, international treaties, reform proposals, and factual developments. In a careful inspection of the legal material, Daniel Thym provides a comprehensive assessment which combines an introduction to core features with a reliable inventory of legal developments. The first edition of the 700-page volume was published in the EU LAW LIBRARY SERIES with OUP in June 2023 and may ideally prove itself as an invaluable guide for policy experts, legal practitioners, and academics at all levels of seniority. Its eighteen chapters introduce the reader to the common rulebook, state practices, and theoretical debates about visas and border controls, asylum and legal migration, integration and return, and international cooperation. Institutional access can be organised via Oxford Academic.
National rules on immigration and asylum have been transformed in recent years. EU directives and regulations, and the case law of the Court of Justice in Luxembourg, are becoming ever more important – both for those working in ministries, immigration authorities, national courts, academia, non-governmental organisations, or as practicing lawyers. They may benefit from the fundamentally revised and amended third edition of the established commentary edited by Daniel Thym and Kay Hailbronner. The book was published jointly by C.H. Beck, Nomos and Hart in 2022. Four thematic introductions help readers to grasp common themes defining secondary legislation. 20 chapters, written by experts from across Europe, explain the legislative detail and the case law on the most important directives and regulations on border controls, visas, legal migration, return, and asylum. Consult the introductory chapter on the 'Legal Framework for EU Asylum Policy' to familiarise yourself with the commentary.
Open Access Publication ‘Racism and the Grundgesetz’ (in German)
The term ‘racism’ is experiencing a renaissance in Germany. An inspection of the judicial practice unearths a contrast between a narrow approach of discrimination on grounds of ‘race’ or ‘ethnic origin’ revolving around physical characteristics and different degrees of broad conceptualisations in the interdisciplinary debate. Judith Froese und Daniel Thym, both professors at the University of Konstanz, have assembled a team of leading scholars from across Germany to contribute to the Open Access Publication ‘Grundgesetz und Rassismus’ (Racism and the German Constitution). They present different perspectives on two overarching questions: do non-discrimination laws at the domestic, supranational, and international level cover culturalised expressions of ‘racism’? What about institutionalised manifestations of unequal outcomes that are not based on intentional actions? The introductory contribution by Daniel Thym offers an overview of pertinent legal and interdisciplinary questions. The volume appears in the framework of the Research Institute Social Cohesion and the InRa Study on ‘Institutions and Racism’.
Edited by Dora Kostakopoulou and Daniel Thym, the Research Handbook was published in 2022 with Edward Elgar to provide a panoramic guide to the study and research of EU citizenship and its development within a challenging environment characterised by restrictive access to social benefits, Brexit, euroscepticism, and Covid-19. It combines theoretical perspectives with analyses of both the existing and future rights, duties and the social protection of Union citizens. Contributors from across Europe have been invited to contribute and to work with mixed legal and interdisciplinary methodologies. They deal with contemporary political development as well as with the case law of the Court of Justice. A wide range of topics are discussed, featuring association, EU citizenship and nationality, social rights, academic freedom, and restrictions in free movement of persons. The book also applies a forward thinking approach by examining the promise of EU citizenship and the institutional reforms one might envisage in the future.
German politics have discussed the introduction of a ‘points system’ following the Canadian model for years. In its coalition agreement, the new German government promised to deliver by establishing an ‘opportunity card on the basis of a points system to allow qualified workers from third states to enter the German labour market for purposes of jobseeking’. Realising that venture remains challenging, since the new entry channel will have to complement pre-existing domestic reform steps and the supranational blue card scheme. Six leading experts discuss the pitfalls and opportunities of the new project in a special issue coordinated by Daniel Thym. It has been published in the Journal of Immigration Law and Policy (Zeitschrift für Ausländerrecht und -Politik).
Timely and profound collection of high-quality contributions, written by experts from across Europe, on the ongoing policy debate on the reform of Common European Asylum System. Contributions combine an in-depth presentation with a style of argument that addresses a broader audience: fellow academics, students and PhD researchers, practitioners, and political actors. Attention to the legislative detail coincides with an awareness of the broader picture in terms of policy developments, human rights compatibility, and practical implementation on the ground. The edited volume is an updated and revised version of the successful series of posts on the blog of the Odysseus Network, coordinated by Daniel Thym. The collection was published in February 2022 with Nomos as an open access publication.
The Commission proposals on the reform of the Common European Asylum System are politically controversial and difficult to understand, since they comprise various measures on several hundred pages. A widely read blog series coordinated by Daniel Thym shed light on both the wider conceptual implications and the nitty-gritty of individual proposals. The 19 contributions were written by renowned experts from across Europe and were published on a special website of the blogpost of the Odysseus network between September 2020 and March 2021.
The Hailbronner Commentary on German Immigration Law is always reliable and up-to-date. It is bound in five volumes and published by Rehm.
In his doctoral thesis, Tobias Klarmann exposes the central and effective division of migration and migrants into ‘legal’ and ‘illegal’ as a mirage. Focusing on rules adopted at the EU level, he shows that manifold regulations construct grey areas that only differ in which aspects are illegalised and to what intensity. In a comprehensive and systematic exposition, the work reconstructs how various forms of migration-specific illegalities are created by various instruments of EU migration law in a regulatory tension between humanitarianism and utilitarianism. The volume on ‘Illegalised Migration’ was published in 2021 with Nomos as a print version and open access format.
In reviewing asylum cases, decision makers are in need of country of origin information. This knowledge cannot be generated by simply interpreting legal norms and therefore tends to overstrain German administrative law because of its lack of assertive procedural rules. In his PhD thesis on ‘Country Of Origin in Asylum Proceedings’ published in 2020 (in German), Lukas Mitsch illustrates the deficits of the conventional German legal asylum doctrine and proposes a new concept that contributes to solving the problem.
Refugee law and policy are controversial topics that raise manifold legal and conceptual questions. For that reason, Daniel Thym steps back and analyses ‘structural deficits of German, European and international refugee law’ at an intermediate level of abstraction in a recent essay called ’Sollbruchstellen des deutschen, europäischen und internationalen Flüchtlingsrechts’ (in German), which was published with De Gruyter in an open access format. The book concentrates on structural deficits underlying the Refugee Convention and the Common European Asylum System on the refugee definition, the travel route and interstate cooperation. It argues that these structural factors are here to stay and we should learn to accept refugee law and policy as an area of permanent reconstruction.
Supranational citizenship is controversial: it is politically contested, the object of prominent court rulings and the subject of intense academic debates. A collection with prominent authors from across Europe, which was published with Bloomsbury/Hart, examines this vexed question, paying particular attention to the Court of Justice. Offering analytical readings of the key cases, it also examines those political, social and normative factors which influence the evolution of citizens‘ rights. A cheaper paperback edition was published in 2020.
Solidarity and fair sharing of responsibility is a key constitutional principles in the EU asylum, migration and border policies. While its importance is often proclaimed, including in Article 80 TFEU, its meaning, scope and precise implications for EU legislation and practice remain confounded. In its fifth issue of 2017, the Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law published a collection of eight articles, with Daniel Thym and Lilian Tsourdi as guest-editors.
Migration is one of today’s major subjects, whose legal processing follows two different regimes: one for EU citizens and another for third-country nationals. Both topics are currently in a state of flux. This volume edited by Daniel Thym and Tobias Klarmann links both developments with contributions from aspiring young academics on the concept of EU citizenship and migration law towards third-country nationals.
Based upon a joint project with Özyeğin University in Istanbul, ‘Rights of Third-Country Nationals under EU Association Agreements. Degrees of Free Movement and Citizenship’ published in 2015 highlights the significance of the rules on the free movement of persons in the association agreements between the European Union and neighbouring states, in particular Turkey. It extrapolates horizontal questions of legal interpretation, constitutional formation and substantive approximation, which underlie the diverse rules and which support the overall conclusion that there are degrees of free movement and citizens’ rights defining the status of associated countries between membership and partnership.
The fourth edition of the established German language textbook again presents the most important areas of immigration, asylum and EU free movement law against the background of legislative reforms as well as German and international case-law. The textbook serves as an introduction to German immigration and asylum law for students and practitioners. The fourth edition of december 2016 is published by Kohlhammer-Verlag.
More than half of the asylum applications in Europe are rejected. This explains the relevance of how Member States deal with persons who do not qualify for international protection whenever voluntary or forced return does not happen. Julia Schieber addresses with pertinent question in her prize-winning PhD thesis on ‘Complementary Protection’ (in German). The book was published in 2013 with Nomos.
A special issue of the Zeitschrift für Ausländerrecht (in German) of March 2012 edited by the Konstanz Research Centre Immigration & Asylum Law presents five different contributions on the concept, potential and reality of 'integration contracts' in German, Austrian and Swiss immigration law with a conceptual introduction by Daniel Thym.
Habilitation by Professor Thym on administrative migration governance. Immigration and asylum law regulate the entry and integration of third-country nationals by legal means. Scrutinizing its rules, Daniel Thym adopts the perspective of the public administration and develops guiding principles for the contribution of »administrative migration law« to the management of migration flows at national, European and international level. Both the print-version and the e-book of 2010 are available from the publishing house Mohr Siebeck.
The proceedings of the bilingual 8th International Workshop for Young Scholars (WISH) on "Europe: A Continent of Immigration / Europe: A continent d'immigration" organised by Prof. Thym and the European Law Journal were published in the autumn of 2001 by Bruylant in Brussels.
Daniel Thym defended his PhD at the Walter Hallstein Institute of European Constitutional Law at Humboldt University, Berlin, in 2014 and received the ‘Humboldt Price’ for the publication. The original PDF files have been made available with the consent of the publisher. The book analyses the Schengen law, the general mechanism of enhanced cooperation and other forms of differentiated integration at multiple speeds within the broader context of the institutional and legal foundations of the supranational integration method..