We welcome you to the RDV panel with Dr. Ayo Sogunro (author, essayist and human rights lawyer), Dr. Matthew Gichohi (Post Doctoral Researcher, CMI), and Erwin Navarro (Skeiv verden vest) moderated by Dr. Liv Tennessen (Co-director, LawTransform, Senior researcher, CMI). Queerphobia has become an issue of political contestation across the world. Transnational groups and governments, […]
Reflections written by Ianira Vieira Master’s student at Politics and Governance of Global Challenges (UiB), part of LawTransform student group The moment I told a friend in February 2023 that my intention to study abroad would soon materialise, but that I felt a sense of sadness that I had not even considered Brazil as an […]
“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 […]
Dear friends and colleagues. As 2024 draws to a close we want to thank all who in myriad ways have contributed to the life and work of LawTransform this year—which also marked our 10-year anniversary! It was wonderful to celebrate with so many of you during the Bergen Exchanges in August. For those who were […]
Master course: Climate politics: The challenge of Autocratization and the climate emergency
Jenna Freitas | Her Campus Media Design Team
GOV360-7: Climate Politics: The Challenge of Autocratization and the Climate Emergency
Objectives and Content
Democracies are under pressure world-wide and we are currently witnessing a wave of autocratization. At the same time, across the globe countries are now reducing their national climate ambitions by diminishing climate protection or removing existing climate policies. How can we understand the dual challenge of a global backlash against democracy and pro-climate policies? What connects the democratic and the climate crises? Democratic backsliding and the climate emergency pose fundamental challenges to societies crossing the norther-southern divide. Yet, while social scientists have tended to focus on explaining the democracy challenges, the theorizing on the climate emergencies have been left to the natural scientists.
In this course we critically reflect on the interconnections between two large challenges facing the world: autocratization and the climate emergency. We investigate how rising temperatures are linked to the proliferation of armed conflicts, food shortages and economic recessions. We ask how autocratization directly or indirectly affect the dismantling of climate policies. We also investigate the links between climate denialism and populist movements and the role of global institutions in these global battles.
The course consists of the following components:
Student-led moderated seminar discussions
Guest lectures
Group work
Reflection notes
This elective course tackles these questions through deep reading and discussion of selected academic articles, videos and documents. In class, we approach the readings in a dialogue-oriented seminar structure, based on students’ preparation of readings, one short research brief and with rotating responsibility for co-planning and moderating the seminar session. Willingness to prepare the session readings in-depth is essential for successful participation in this course.
Language of teaching: English
Level of study: Master
ECTS Credits: 5,00
Semester of instruction: Spring semester 2025 (irregular)
By Hannah Behncke, Mathea Kristoffersen, Camila Salazar Larsen, Selma Zachariassen Nasby, Eylül Sahin and Sabrina Eriksen Zapata - ELSA Bergen, Human Rights Researchgruppen (2024)
This blogpost was written and finished on November 5th, right before the beginning of the US presidential elections. A more extensive version of this post can be found on Injuria[1]. The right to vote is a fundamental aspect of democracy, yet in the United States, millions of individuals with felony convictions are excluded from […]
Ray Aldred, John Klaasen, and Line M. Skum: Cultivating Transformative Reconciliation (ReconTrans Volume II). PICKWICK Publications
A book chapter by Elin Skaar, a Senior Researcher at the Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI), where she heads the research cluster on Rights and Legal Institutions and is Coordinator for the Transitional justice Unit. The indigenous Sami and the Kven (a cross-border minority group) in the Nordic countries have long discussed the possibilty, and desirability, […]
On 5 November the Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) in Budapest, Hungary, hosted the CHARM-EU Annual Conference 2024 “Intercultural Learning and European Universities”, bringing together delegates from the nine universities part of the alliance. The panel Global South Perspectives in European Higher Education was chaired by Priscila Alvarez-Cueva (University of Barcelona) and had Marjanneke Vijge (Utrecht […]
In spring 2025, SKOK (center for women’s and gender research), LawTransform and Skeivforsk will organize a cross-disciplinary, combined master and PhD course about thedynamics between sex and politics in a global perspective. Registration deadline – Monday 13 of January 2025. The regular lectures are public and open to all students, staff and the general public. […]
The Centre for Research on Discretion and Paternalism (DIPA)
Blogpost by: Professor Jill Marshall, Professor of Law, Royal Holloway, University of London BLOG: We may all think we know what ‘personal identity’ means, but what exactly is a human right to personal identity? Does everyone have the same identity rights? This piece outlines how the right has developed at the European Court of Human Rights […]
