Join the LawTransform/UiB Department of Goverment PhD course “Effects of Lawfare: Courts and law as battlegrounds for social change” which is an integrated part of the 2026 Bergen Exchanges on Law & Social Transformaion (Here is the emerging #BeEx2026 program). Here are links to the course description and the course plan.
Applications are due 10 March. Here you find the course application form.
About the course:
In all parts of the world, complex webs of legal norms and institutions – global, national, and local – regulate our societies and lives, and courts and law are important arenas for political struggle. Constitutional reforms and international treaties aim to transform social dynamics from above and achieve political goals by changing governance structures and strengthen – or weaken – protection of citizens’ rights. Individuals and groups engage in legal mobilisation from below to seek justice for their cause. In either case, myriad international activists and experts are ready to engage with local partners, creating dense global networks of actors, legal norms, and adjudicative institutions. In this context, it is urgent to better understand law as a political field. What is the transformative potential in the turn to rights and law? Does it provide institutional spaces for the voices of marginalised groups and tools that can provide political leverage? Or does it, rather, demobilise and depoliticize struggles in ways that exacerbate unequal power-relations, and provide tools for autocrats? These are urgent issues on which there are deep disagreements in the literature. The course offers an introduction to the scholarly debates on the potential and limits of law as an instrument of social change, and opportunities to engage with some of the foremost scholars in the field, and international research projects currently seeking more compelling answers to these questions.
The course combines
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- in person public seminars that form part of the (#BeEx2026) 17-21 August. (Here is the emerging program for the 2026 Bergen Exchanges)
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- Real-time online seminars specifically designed for the course
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- An individual mentoring session with a relevant researcher
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- Group work to discuss the course readings and write a join reflection note
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- Individual presentations with feedback on projects
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- Mentoring by senior sholars
Postdoctoral researchers and MA level students will be accepted if space permits. The PhD course is open to applicants from Norwegian and international institutions.
Participation is free of charge, but applicants must pay their own travel and accommodation. Lunches and evening meals will be provided for those joining the Bergen Exchanges in person.
For questions contact Ana de Mello Côrtes <Ana.Cortes@uib.no>
