In a great variety of legal issues, e.g. extraditions, foreign trade, UN sanctions or building laws, foreign policy interests may be taken into consideration. If there is a conflict of foreign policy interests with individual fundamental or human rights, it is necessary to strike a balance. Legal practice is not accustomed to deal with this challenge. Gernot Biehler examines a large quantity of case material from various legal fields. On this background foreign policy interests may be understood as a legal category.

Foreign policy interests are used repeatedly in order to justify conduct which is not acceptable under the German Basic Law (Grundgesetz). These interests often lead to almost incomprehensible results and are difficult to understand. In all questions pertaining to extraditions, foreign trade, UN sanctions or building laws to be applied when building new embassies, foreign policy interests are taken into consideration in legal practice. When however there is a conflict with individual rights, it is necessary to weigh all the interests, and these are often not taken into consideration by foreign policy interests. Gernot Biehler examines a large quantity of case material from various legal fields, and in doing so succeeds in making foreign policy interests easier to understand.

Autorentext
Studium der Rechtswissenschaften in Berlin und Cambridge; 1993 Promotion; 2003 Habilitation, Prozessvertreter des Auswärtigen Amtes; Lecturer in Law am Trinity College Dublin.

Zusammenfassung
Zur Rechtfertigung von 'unter dem Grundgesetz nicht hinnehmbaren' (BVerfG im Bodenreformurteil BverfGE 84, 90 ff.) Verhalten werden immer wieder auswärtige Interessen angeführt. Sie führen oft zu kaum verständlichen Ergebnissen und sind schwer faßbar. Bei Fragen, die Auslieferungen, Außenwirtschaft, Sanktionen der UNO oder das Baurecht beim Neubau von Botschaften betreffen, werden auswärtige Interessen von der Rechtspraxis berücksichtigt. Allerdings werden im Konflikt mit Individualrechten Abwägungen nötig, denen sich die auswärtigen Interessen oft entziehen. Gernot Biehler untersucht reiches Fallmaterial aus verschiedensten Rechtsbereichen und macht auswärtige Interessen so besser faßbar.