Why and how do discussions about religious freedom and secularism coalesce around questions of gender and sexuality? What is the relationship between the regulation of gender and sexuality and the regulation of religion in modern secular societies? The round table will address gendered and sexual aspects of law and religious (un) freedom in the global […]
Corruption hunters – investigating and prosecuting financial crime
PANEL DISCUSSION: Norad’s international corruption hunters network meets in Bergen. Hear how some of them work to prosecute corrupt criminals, and about the importance of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention. «Why should not we – who are hunting the criminals – have a network when the criminals have their networks». The words are from Eva Joly […]
Queer Lawfare and Political Backlash in Comparative Perspective
In India debates on homosexuality and queer rights have been fueled by recent court cases: In 2009, the Naz Foundation judgment of the Delhi High Court effectively decriminalised homosexuality. Four years later, in December 2013, the Supreme Court surprisingly overturned the decision on appeal, holding that it was up to Parliament to decide whether to […]
The Politics of Land and Dispossession in Contemporary India.
India’s recent growth trajectory and the ongoing liberalization of the country’s economy have fuelled conflicts over land rights between state authorities, private investors and rural and urban populations who face threats of dispossession. This seminar will present critical perspectives on the politics of land and dispossession that draws on research in the states of Maharashtra […]
Contemporary Challenges to Democracy: Comparative Perspectives and the Way Forward
What explains why democracies have endured or broken down? What explains why dictatorships have survived or fallen? What explains waves of regime change? The recently published book by Scott Mainwaring and Aníbal Pérez-Liñán argue for a theoretical approach situated between long-term structural and cultural explanations and short-term explanations that look at the decisions of specific […]
Argentinean Politics: House of Cards?
Welcome to Bergen Resource Centre for International Development and the event: Argentinean Politics: House of Cards? On January 18, Argentinean prosecutor Alberto Nisman was found dead in his home. This happened the exact day before he was to testify in Congress after he had accused Argentinian President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of conspiring with Iran to subvert […]
The European Backlash: Conservative Movements, Abortion and LGBT Rights
Neil Datta in conversation with Vegard Furustøl Vibe How to understand the recent phenomenon in Europe of push-back on social advances in sexual and reproductive rights? Who are the actors, what motivates them and how do they work? Are there links between the debates on conscientious objection (reservasjonsrett) that we have seen in Norway in […]
Regulating Religion
Christine Jacobsen, SKOK, and Malcom Langford, CMI, in conversation with Åse Gilje Østensen. Today, few Europeans are Muslims, still, their way of practicing Islam creates great public discussion. What should be allowed and not? Is it ok to wear niqab? How much should the government interfere with religious practices? And as a last question, by regulating […]
The seminar presents on-going work from an interdisciplinary research project collaboration between the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi and the Centre on Law & Social Transformation (CMI-UiB). The project is examining the potential and limits of legal regulations in facilitating inclusive sustainable development in India, as they play out in different social and […]
Course on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Litigation
November 3-5 2014 a course in Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Litigation is given at Harvard University (FXB Center for Health and Human Rights in collaboration with the Global School on Socioeconomic Rights). Sexual and reproductive rights (SRR) are increasingly politicized and morally charged. Activism involves strong emotions and sparks reactions among both progressive […]