The Scandinavian rights revolution: Individual rights, civil society mobilization and democratic change.

Project Team: Docent Johan Karlsson Schaffer from Gøteborgs Universitet, affiliated with UiO as Professor II from Januare 2018, leads the project in cooperation with Malcolm Langford (UiO), Postdoctor Kjersti Lohne (UiO), Professor Mikael Rask Madsen (University of Copenhagen), University Lecturer Anna Wallermann (Gøteborgs Universitet) and Benedikte Høgberg (UiO).

Timeframe: 01/01/2018 -

The project explores how and whether civil society in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark have shifted to a rights-approach. An approach that can facilitate the use of courts in working for the fulfilment of rights. Has the development of rights and judicial review been driven by European institutions and Norwegian judges, or does civil society have a greater part in this?

The aim of the project is to look at how civil society in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway may have contributed to expanding the protection of individual rights through the judicial system. The project addresses three core questions: how have courts contributed to the increase in protection of individual rights, what explains civil society’s battle for individual rights, and what are the consequences for society when the protection of rights is strengthened?

The project looks at supreme court decisions from Sweden, Denmark and Sweden, decisions from the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, and the EFTA-court in Luxembourg.The mapping will combine qualitative and quantitative measurements. By tracing cases in the judicial system, one should be able to identify particular rights or possible waves of cases on individual rights.

http://www.uio.no/english/research/strategic-research-areas/nordic/research/research-groups/nordic-branding/news/scandinavian-rights-revolution.html