Rethinking democracy & law

Project Team: Siri Gloppen (UiB), Thomas Keck (Syracuse University), Rachel Cichowski (University of Washington), Julie Ane Ødegaard Borge (Rafto), Lara Côrtes (CMI), Camila Gianella (CMI)

Timeframe: 11/01/2019 - 09/01/2022

 

This project rethinks the way teaching is done in the field of Democracy & Law. It does so by building a new four-way collaboration between: the University of Bergen /LawTransform;  two US universities who are at the forefront in this field: the University of Washington (UW) and Syracuse University; and the Bergen based Rafto Foundation for Human Rights  Norwegian NGO with expertise in teaching human rights and democracy to young students.The authoritarian turn that we currently see in politics across much of the world – challenging the core of constitutional democracy, including human rights, academic- and media freedom; and the independence of the courts – make innovations in teaching especially important in this field. As we are entering uncharted political waters, we need courses and forms of teaching that builds on the best new research, and the best learning methods.

The grant will enable improvement of courses regularly taught at the partner institutions to better reflect and engage cutting-edge research on democracy and rights across disciplines and cultural perspectives. Itwill also enable cross cultural exchange of ideas and pedagogical tools in developing innovative and experiential learning methods and producing effective learning assessment processes.

One of the courses that have benefited greatly from the project is Constitution, Courts and Politics

Project is funded by the Norwegian Agency for International Cooperation and Quality Enhancement in Higher Education (Diku).