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Land Rights, Environmental Protection and Inclusive Development within India’s Federal System

Abstract: India faces serious challenges in constructing development paths that are socially inclusive, ecologically sustainable and politically feasible. The main goal of the research project is to understand how the legal regimes adopted to protect vulnerable groups and ecosystems interact with the socio-political dynamics of the Indian federal system. Moreover, we aim to understand how this […]

Courses

LawTransform PhD Course

Effects of Lawfare:  Courts and law as battlegrounds for social change (15- 24 August)

With two options of specialization: Effects of Lawfare concerning Child Rights and Health Rights.

The course page is available with further information about the course program and admission.

The course combines lectures specifically designed for the course and participation in lectures, panels, round-tables, and workshops of the Bergen Exchanges on Law & Social Transformation.

Students will receive 3 ECTS for participating in the course (80% of seminars), submission of paper abstract (150-300 words), and presentation of their own work to the other participants. Students who submit a publishable journal article (4,000-6,000 words, with an additional reading list of 500 pages, which can be from the elective reading list) by 14 October 2018 are awarded an additional 7 ECTS. (Postdoctoral researchers and MA level students will be accepted if space permits).

The PhD course is free of charge and open to applicant from Norwegian and international institutions on a first-come first serve basis. Participants do, however, have to cover their own travel and accommodation costs, as there unfortunately are no scholarships available.

Course leaders:  Siri Gloppen (Comparative Politics, University of Bergen & LawTransform Director);  Bruce Wilson (niversity of Central Florida/CMI);  Camila Gianella (CMI); Marit Skivenes (Administration and Organization Theory, University of Bergen), Alicia Ely Yamin (Georgetown University Law Center) and  Paola Bergallo (University of Torcuato Di Tella, in Buenos Aires).

Lecturers (tbc*): Malcolm Langford (University of Oslo/CMI); Jeroen van der Slujs (Philosophy of Science, UoB); Daniel Brinks (University of Texas, Austin).

PhD course at the Bergen Exchanges 2016

 

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Bergen Summer Research School

(11 – 22 June 2018)

Course on “Gender based violence: Rights as governance mechanisms and political tools”.

The application deadline was 15 February and there are some stipends available. 

Course leaders are Henriette Aasen (UiB) and Torunn Wimpelmann (CMI) and lecturers include Jackie Dugard; Siri Gloppen; Hans Fredrik Martinussen; May-Len Skjelbrei; Liv Tønnessen and Vibeke Wang

A seminar and workshop on Abortion Rights & Health Effects: Global perspectives will be held at LawTransform on 1-2 February. Abortion laws are contested around the world with momentous changes occurring. The seminar features activist and scholars who were instrumental in securing a liberalization of the abortion law in Chile last year, and also scholars working on Ireland, Poland, Africa, the MENA region and India. The first day (1 February) will be a public seminar at the Bergen Resource Centre on Abortion Lawfare: Global perspectives. The second day (2 February) is a workshop to discuss Methodological approaches to studying health effects of abortion law. This is open by application and will be held at the Chr. Michelsen Institute.

 

 

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Bergen Exchanges 2017

(21 – 25 August)

The Bergen Exchanges on Law & Social Transformation is a meeting place for scholars and practitioners who seek to understand how law serves as an instrument of change and how it shapes, and is shaped by power relations. During a week of public discussions, we examine strategic uses of rights and law and how legal institutions function as arenas for political contestation (lawfare).  The multi-disciplinary and international nature of the Bergen Exchanges makes it a unique space for improving research strategies and methods to grasp the effects of law & lawfare. This includes the use of legal instruments by governments to shape societies – whether through constitutional change, international treaties, statutes or regulations – as well as “insurgent lawfare” from below, by social actors who go to court or otherwise engage rights and law to advance their goals. Effects take different forms. How legal strategies alter political dynamics, ideas and discourses may be as important for long term transformation as more immediate changes in laws, policies, or the distribution of resources. We also seek to better understand the functioning of legal and administrative institutions as they adjudicate, interpret and implement legal norms.

Topics in focus at the 2017 Bergen Exchanges included:

  • How does law shape and change gender relations? And what is the currency of law in the political economy of gendered morality? We explore dynamics and effects of abortion and migration laws, equality legislation, sexual and gender identity rights, criminalization of gender based violence and child marriage.
  • What are the effects of transitional justice processes – and how do transitional justice institutions (truth commissions, trials) travel?
  • Child rights. Is Norway fulfilling its international commitments? And how do child welfare services in different countries exercise discretion ‘in the best interest of the child’?
  • Law, democracy & authoritarianism. How should we study effects of law in authoritarian settings? What is the role of law in current processes of democratic backlash? And how does the backlash affect legal institutions? Law is used to defend democracy – and to undermine it, for example through anti-terror, NGO-, libel- and “immorality” laws.
  • Law & inequality. Does the human right to water help the poor? Have land reforms brought social justice? When does court involvement increase inequality – and how can we know?
  • What decides how judges rule – for example in cases concerning speech rights – or rape? Can we reform courts to make judges more independent not only vis-à-vis the political branches and corrupt influences, but also from their own biases?
  • Law & society in Latin America.

The lectures, roundtables and panels bring together scholars and practitioners from all over the world, many linked to LawTransform as Global Fellows, Associates and collaborators on research projects. The events are open to everyone free of charge.

In connection with the Bergen Exchanges, we have an annual, interdisciplinary PhD course on Effects of Lawfare, which this year, in addition to the general track, offers a specialization in Gender, Sexuality & The Law (see special program).

Drivers of Corruption: A Brief Review

Tina Søreide, Professor, Norwegian School of Economics (NHH), Norway Corruption is motivated by the possibility of securing something of value for oneself and one s allies. The desire to secure benefits is a human trait and generally positive for development; various forms of rewards drive humans to get up in the morning, do a good […]

Would you like to volunteer during the 2017 Bergen Exchanges?

What is Bergen Exchanges? Bergen Exchanges on Law & Social Transformation is a weeklong event hosted annually by the Centre on Law & Social Transformation. Through seminars, lectures and meetings, we invite academics, students and practioners from all over the world to discuss different aspects of the potential of law as an instrument for social […]

The Pro Bono Group

We are a group at the University of Bergen that conduct research on children´s rights. Pro Bono is a Latin phrase for professional work and research undertaken voluntarily without payment and for the benefit of the public good. We believe that working for children and young individual’s rights is a particularly important social responsibility. In […]