PhD Course: Effects of Lawfare – Courts and law as battlegrounds for social change

“Effects of Lawfare – Courts and law as battlegrounds for social change” in an integral part of LawTransfom’s annual The course offers insights into cutting edge research on the potential and limits of law as an instrument of social change and provides a unique opportunity to engage with some of the foremost scholars in the field. The students can choose among a general track or a special track focusing on legalized contestations related to “Democracy, Autocratization and Resistance”. Other special focus areas for the 2025 course are child rights and contestations over Indigenous land and just climate transformation..

The course period is 4-22 August 2025. The first part of the course is on 4-15 August and is digital for all. For the week of 18-22 August, students are invited to come to Bergen to participate physically at the Bergen Exchanges on Law & Social Transformation. It is also possible to take the whole course online.

The course is free of charge and open to PhD students from all disciplines and academic institutions. Students who are not based in Bergen must cover costs of travel and accommodation.

The full course yields 10 ECTS (participation, group work for reflection notes on readings and course development, paper abstract, presentation, and paper, 4-6000 words)

Partial course yields 5 ECTS points (participation, group work for reflection notes on readings and course development, paper abstract, and presentation)

The language of instruction is English.

❗The application deadline is 28 February 2025❗

Please, use the Registration form.

Course Program

Reading List

Course Page

Submission of paper by 15 October 2025.

Check out some of the impressions from the 2021 Effects of Lawfare course.

Here you will find useful teaching materials from our Effects of Rights & Law project.