Vegard Furustøl Vibe new research fellow at Department of Comparative Politics

Vibe began his four year PhD studies at the Department of Comparative Politics October 1st. His PhD project focuses on the judicialization of controversial and moral political questions, with a particular attention given to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender-issues (LGBT): what are the legal and political consequences of the increasing tendency of social movements and other actors to mobilize through courts? To answer this question, Vibe, along with colleagues from the CMI and the University of Oslo, are constructing a worldwide database which aims at including all court decisions on sexual and reproductive rights from national and international courts. Moreover, Vibe’s project will look at why some LGBT-movements decide to mobilize within the court system rather than through other channels.

Vibe has for nearly two years worked as a research assistant at the department, working on many of the same questions regarding the judicialization of politics, but also conducted research on climate politics. He has also co-authored two chapters in an upcoming anthology on climate politics in Norway, and also participated in the evaluation of the Norwegian International Climate and Forest Initiative in 2014. Vibe has previously worked as a higher executive officer at the Department of Administration and Organization Theory at the University of Bergen, and for a women’s rights organization in Ghana. He wrote his Master’s Thesis «’Fight for your right to… ‘ - Explaining social movement outcomes in France: a case study of four movements» at the Department of Comparative Politics, where also earned his Bachelor's Degree.