Born in Irun, 15-06-1963
Joxerramon Bengoetxea (PhD, Edinburgh) is Professor in Jurisprudence and Sociology of Law at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). He teaches:
– “Philosophy and Sociology of Law” at the Faculty of Law (Law degree, in Basque),
– Basque nationalism and Europe in the Master on Nationalism in XXI Century (in Basque);
– Spanish constitutionalism (U Bordeaux-Montesquieu)
– European Law (Free movements and cohesion) at the Master in European integration (UPV/EHU, in Spanish; and
– “comparing legal cultures” (in English) at the International Master in Sociology of Law at the Oñati Institute,
He coordinates the International Master in Sociology of Law, and the Doctorate in Sociology of Law, now part of the PH D Program on Globalization of the UPV/EHU. He is a member of the Academic Board of the “Renato Treves” International Phd in Law and Society, and collaborator of the Centre of Excellence «Foundations of European Law and Polity», U Helsinki. and Secretary General of Eurobask, Basque Council of the European Federalist Movement
A. Research areas and interests:
1. The legal theory of EU law: legal reasoning, quality of law-making or legislative drafting; general principles of EU law, relations between legal orders; Charter of Fundamental Rights, European Criminal Law principles…
2. Autonomous Constitutional Regions in the EU, nations without their own state, and European integration, subsidiarity, regionalism, cohesion policy
3. Pluralism and multiculturalism: Legal and Constitutional Pluralism, diversity and identity issues, in the European context: my focus is a combination of political Philosophy, Jurisprudence and legal pluralism
4. Social policy and philosophy: transitional justice/ Public Private Partnerships/social policy/ debt and European Crises
B. ehuGune Programme Most (50%) of my time between 2012-2015 is devoted to this programme of a Joint collaboration between the University and society in three main areas: the impact of violence on our academic life;
the current crises (European, economic, political, social and mass media-culture) and Euskal Herria
2050 (demography; territory-environment and identities)
Academic, Research and Public Service posts
– Coordinator ehuGUNE; a programme of the University of the Basque Country to interact with civil Society on key socio-economic, political and governance issues, From Sep 11-
– Visiting Professor; Universities of Kansai (Japan, 2014); Helsinki (2013); Stanford (2012) and Oxford (2001)
– Member of the quasi-judicial Basque Electoral Board, Junta Electoral de la Comunidad Autonoma del Pais Vasco, 2005-2009,
– Director of the International Institute for the Sociology of Law, Oñati, Basque Country, Spain; 2005-2007
– January 2002-January 2004: Legal Secretary (law clerk) Court of Justice of the European Communities; working directly for Judges Edward (2 years) and Schiemann (two months).
– March 2004-October 2005: director of the network ELAP-The Economics of Lifelong Learning.
– July 1998-September 2001: Deputy Minister for Employment, Labour and Social Security at the Basque Autonomous Government, Department of Justice, Labour and Social Affairs, President of the Board of EGAILAN SA. the Basque Organisation for Employment and Occupational Training, President of the Basque Foundation for Continuous Training of Workers HOBETUZ, President of the Board of OSALAN, the Basque Agency for health and safety at work.
– February 1998 – July 1998: Professor of legal theory and Sociology of Law at the Law Faculty of the University of the Basque Country
– February 1993-February 1998: Legal Secretary (référendaire or law clerk) at the European Court of Justice (Chambers of Judge Edward)
– March 1991-February 1993, Secretary of the Faculty of Law (responsible for the new law curriculum)
– April 1990- February 1993: Associate Professor of Jurisprudence at the University of the Basque Country (lecturing in the Basque language on legal theory and sociology of law)
– January 1990 – April 1990- Practicing Legal Counsel in San Sebastian
– October 1989 -December 1989 : Wissentschaflicher Mittarbeiter (research assistant) at the University of the Saarland, with Prof. Dr. iur Heike Jung, at the Chair of Criminology, Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure, undertaking a research on the criminalisation and decriminalisation jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights (published in Legal Studies in 1990)
Postgraduate and undergraduate studies
October 1986 – October 1989: University of Edinburgh, Ph.D. student. Viva on October 1989. Examiners: Professors John Bell and David Edward. Thesis Director: Prof. Neil MacCormick. Followed doctoral courses on EC law (2 years), Sociology of Law (2 years), Methodology of the Social Sciences (1 year), and Contemporary Issues in Jurisprudence (3 years) and special tutorials by J. Wróblewski,
– January 1989 – April 1989: Erasmus postgraduate student at the European University Institute, Florence, followed courses by A. Aarnio, P. Nerhot, Ch Grzegorzyck, M. Troper, N. MacCormick, Z. Bankowski, S. Lukes, J. Schwarze,
G. Teubner,
– August 1988: Postgraduate student at European Summer University, Berlin: four full-day seminars by Niklas Luhmann, Jon Elster, Pierre Bourdieu, Agnes Heller and Gajo Petrovic,
– October 1981 – October 1986 : First Degree in Law, Universities: Autónoma of Madrid, Spanish Open University UNED and U of the Basque Country in San Sebastian
– September 1986 – October 1982 : Undergraduate studies in Philosophy at the Spanish Open University UNED (including two years of social anthropology, and sociology)
– While in secondary school (Irun) I spent one year as an exchange student in Flint, Michigan (1979-80).
Main Publications
The Legal Reasoning of the European Court of Justice, Oxford University Press, 1993.
Zuzenbideaz. Teoria kritiko trinkoa (1993) 500 page textbook on Jurisprudence (Sociology of Law, Comparative Law, Legal Theory and Political Philosophy) in the Basque language (the first original work on law produced in Basque), La Europa Peter Pan. El constitucionalismo europeo en la encrucijada (2005) IVAP
Journal Monographs;
– Autonomy and Heterenomy of the Judiciary in Europe (ed), OSLS, 2012
– Public-Private Partnerships (ed) OSLS, 2012
– Ultima Ratio (ed) OSLS 2013
– Justice in Literature (co-ed) OSLS, 2014
I have published over 150 articles and/or book chapters in law reviews, journals, collective editions and readers dealing with issues of legal reasoning and legal theory, EC law and institutions, regionalism in the EC, comparative law, political philosophy (theory of nationalism and of European integration).
