Photo:

Eivind Senneset

Siri Gloppen

Professor, Director, Centre on Law & Social Transformation

E-mailsiri.gloppen@uib.no
Phone+47 55 58 29 86+47 918 20 532
Visitor Address
Christies gt 15

Bergen

Room
313
Postal Address
Postboks 7802

5020 Bergen

I have extensive experience leading international, interdisciplinary research teams. Over the last ten years, I have been the PI for six multi-year projects, acquired through competitive grants and involving researchers from institutions on five continents and from a range of disciplines (Law, Political Science, Anthropology, Economics, Psychology, Philosophy, Medicine). I have also played a central role in acquiring grants for and implementing eight other research projects in this period. The projects focus on the role of rights, law and courts in political change and social development, investigating how this plays out in different fields – from climate change, indigenous rights, land- and water rights, via health, reproductive right and gender equality, to elections and autocratization dynamics. Commitment to excellent, interdisciplinary, research addressing urgent global challenges is at the centre of the projects, which are ambitious in terms of theory development, methodology and empirical analysis. They are also implemented in close dialogue with practitioners and students.

The close integration of research and learning are also at the core of the Centre on Law & Social Transformation (LawTransform) of which I am the founding director. LawTransform is jointly owned by the Chr. Michelsen Institute and the University of Bergen but is a global Centre with fellows from all continents and a wide range of disciplines. The annual research conference, Bergen Exchanges on Law & Social Transformation – which includes a PhD course – brings together internationally leading scholars, students and practitioners and have become a vitalizing space for socio-legal research in Bergen and a global hub for research on law and social change. LawTransform, and the individual research projects involve practitioners – judges, policy makers, activist – as dialogue partners to secure that their insights are reflected, that the projects are useful, and the findings known. I have also extended the research into more directly applied work (World Bank, Norad).

My main contribution to the field of socio-legal studies is the conceptualisation, theorisation and empirical study of the use of law and legal institutions at a political tool and strategy for social change – how this plays out in different contexts, is engaged by diverse actors, and in various policy fields and institutional arenas. This includes conceptualising and analysing how actors face different legal and political opportunity structures based on their resources, barriers and allies, as well as how they are normative and epistemically embedded. In recent years I have particularly focused on the use of legal arenas and strategies in long-standing political battles between starkly opposed groups – theorised as lawfare. Based on this theoretical core, I have developed analytical frameworks for the different projects I have directed to systematically explore legal-political dynamics and lawfare processes across regions and thematic fields.

I have developed and taught a range of courses, including fully digital**courses – at UiB:

PhD Courses:

Climate Change Governance (2020**, 2014); Effects of Lawfare (2020**, 2015-2019); Rights as Governance & Political Tools: Gender Based Violence (2018); Inequality & Governance (2015); Health Litigation (2010); Human Rights & Poverty (2008)

MA Courses:

Climate Change Governance (2021**, 2013) Constitution & Politics (with UiB Law School 2014-2020) Law as Political Strategy (2017, 2018); Breaking BAD, Backlash against democracy (2019); Deepening Democracy - Democratic Innovations (2012) Previous courses: Checking the State; Constitutionalism; Citizenship; Human Rights & Social Justice; International Justice

BA Courses:

Courts, Law & Politics (annually since 2015) Political Theory (1995-2000)

Co-organized a Global School Graduate Course on Health Litigation at Harvard (2014)

Selected publications:

Books:

Juridification & Social Citizenship. Ed. with Henriette Aasen, Anne M Magnussen & Even Nilssen (E. Elgar, 2014)
Klima, medier og politikk. With Elisabeth Eide, Dag Elgesem, Lise Rakner, L. (Eds.). (2014). Abstrakt forlag AS.
Climate Talk: Rights, Poverty & Justice. With Jackie Dugard & Asun L. St.Clair (Eds) (Juta, 2013)
Litigating Health Rights: Can Courts Bring Justice to Health. With Alicia E Yamin (Eds) HLS Human Rights Programme Series with Harvard University Press (2011). Spanish Translation published by Siglo XXI (Argentina) in March 2013
Courts and Power in Latin America and Africa. Co-authored with Bruce Wilson, Roberto Gargarella, Elin Skaar Palgrave McMillan (2010)
Globalization and Democratization: Challenges for Political Parties. Ed. with L. Rakner. Fagbokforlaget (2007).
Roads to Reconciliation. Ed. with E. Skaar and A. Suhrke. Lexington Books (2005)
Democratization and the Judiciary. Ed. with R. Gargarella and E. Skaar) London: Frank Cass (2004)
South Africa: Battle over the Constitution. Ashgate (1997)

Articles and chapters:

“The Climate Crisis: Litigation and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights”. With Catalina Vallejo. in Dugard et.al. (eds) Research Handbook on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as Human Rights. Edward Elgar Publishing, (2020). (Jointly conceptualized and written.)
“LGBT rights in Africa” With Lise Rakner. Chapter 15 in Ashford, C., & Maine, Research Handbook on Gender, Sexuality, and the Law. Edward Elgar, (2020) (Jointly conceptualized and co-written)
“Political determinants of sustainable development goals.” With Camila Gianella and Marta Machado, The Lancet 390.10112 (2017): 2545-2546. (Jointly conceptualized and co-written)
“Studying Courts in Context” in LD Haglund & R Stryker, (eds) Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights: Emerging Possibilities for Social Transformation. University of California Press (2015)
“Grabbing development: Courts, corruption and judicial independence” In T. Søreide & A. Williams (eds) Corruption, Grabbing and Development: Real World Challenges. E. Elgar Publ. (2014)
“Red-Green Lawfare: Climate Justice Discourse in Courtrooms” with Catalina Vallejo, in (J. Dugard et al eds) Climate Talk: Rights, Poverty & Justice (Juta, 2014) (I developed the theoretical framework, Vallejo collected most of the data, jointly analyzed and written)
“Judging the price of life: cost considerations in right-to-health litigation” with Octavio Ferraz, Ottar Mæstad, and Lise Rakner, in H. Aasen et al. (Eds.). (2014). Juridification and social citizenship in the welfare state. Edward Elgar Publishing (2014). (I led conceptualization and analysis, co-wrote chapter).
“Human Rights Based Approaches to Development: Concepts, Evidence, and Policy”, with Varun Gauri, Polity, 44(4): pp 485–50 (2012), (Jointly conceptualized and written)
“Climate Change Lawfare” with Asun St Clair, Social Inquiry. 79(4), 2012, pp 899-930) (I developed the theoretical framework, and collected most of the data, jointly written)
“Judicial independence and judicialization of electoral politics in Malawi and Uganda”. With Fidelis Edge Kanyongolo In D Chirwa & L. Nijzink, Accountable Government in Africa: Perspectives from Public Law and Political Science. University of Cape Town Press/UN University Press (2012) (Jointly conceptualized, joint data collection, jointly written)

Academic article

Show author(s) (2024). Introduction: Women Judges’ Gendered Experiences on the Bench – State of the Art and Beyond . Law & Society Review.

Show author(s) (2021). Learning from the COVID-19 pandemic among migrants: An innovative, system-level, interdisciplinary approach is needed to improve public health . Scandinavian Journal of Public Health. 804-808.
Show author(s) (2021). Constitutionalising the Right to Water in Kenya and Slovenia: Domestic Drivers, Opportunity Structures, and Transnational Norm Entrepreneurs. Water. 21 pages.
Show author(s) (2021). Conceptualizing Abortion Lawfare. Direito GV Law Review. 1-19.

Show author(s) (2019). Tribal Representation and Local Land Governance in the Khasi Hills of Meghalaya, India. Forum for Development Studies.

Show author(s) (2015). Norske klimaparadokser. Norsk Statsvitenskapelig Tidsskrift. 246-255.

Show author(s) (2013). Giving Effect to Children's Right to Health in Colombia? Analysing the Implementation of Court Decisions Ordering Health System Reform. Journal of Human Rights Practice. 153-176.

Show author(s) (2012). Human Rights-Based Approaches to Development: Concepts, Evidence, and Policy. Polity. 485-503.
Show author(s) (2012). Climate Change Lawfare. Social research. 899-930.

Show author(s) (2010). Legal enforcement of social rights: Enabling conditions and impact assessment. Erasmus Law Review. 16 pages.

Show author(s) (2008). Litigation as a strategy to hold governments accountable for implementing the right to health. Health and Human Rights: An International Journal.

Show author(s) (2007). Courts and the poor in Malawi: Economic marginalization, vulnerability, and the law. International Journal of Constitutional Law. 258-293.

Show author(s) (2006). The Role of the Judiciary in the 004 General Elections in Malawi. East African Journal of Peace and Human Rights. 279-317 .

Show author(s) (2003). The Accountability Function of the Courts in Tanzania and Zambia. Democratization. 112-136.
Show author(s) (2003). Kampen for sosiale rettigheter: Er rettssalen riktig arena? Nordisk tidsskrift for menneskerettigheter. 61-75.
Show author(s) (2003). Introduction: The Accountability Function of the Courts in New Democracies. Democratization. 1-6.
Show author(s) (2003). How to Assess the Political Role of the Courts. African Social Research. 98-118.

Show author(s) (2002). Tax Reform and Democratic Accountability in Sub-Saharan Africa. IDS Bulletin.

Show author(s) (1994). John Rawls rettferdighetsteori og Den norske grunnlov av 1814. Norsk Statsvitenskapelig Tidsskrift. 153-172.

Lecture

Show author(s) (2022). Quo Vadis Sexual and Reproductive Rights Activism.

Show author(s) (2021). Women on the Bench Authors' Workshop.
Show author(s) (2021). Klimakrisen i en urettferdig verden.

Show author(s) (2019). Understanding the Political Dimensions of the Turning Against Sexual and Reproductive Rights in Peru.
Show author(s) (2019). The Emergence of Conservative Mobilization and Its Effects on Sexual and Reproductive Rights.
Show author(s) (2019). Sexual and Reproductive Rights and the Courts.
Show author(s) (2019). Roundtable: The Emergence of Conservative Mobilization and Its Effects on Sexual and Reproductive Rights.
Show author(s) (2019). Roundtable: Researching Backlash against Democracy.
Show author(s) (2019). Malawi Case Study.
Show author(s) (2019). Introduction: Framing Legal Approaches to Sexual and Reproductive Rights.
Show author(s) (2019). Changing Hearts and Minds? Kenyan Courts, Public Opinion and LGBT Rights.
Show author(s) (2019). Autocratic Lawfare.

Show author(s) (2018). Malawi Country Case Study.
Show author(s) (2018). Judging Democratic Backlash (Breaking BAD project).
Show author(s) (2018). Demokrati, rettsstat og populisme.

Show author(s) (2017). Researching effects of lawfare.
Show author(s) (2017). Politics of Morality: Democracy and Health Effects.
Show author(s) (2017). Global Health: Political and Legal Determinants.

Show author(s) (2015). The right to health and Universal Health Coverage.
Show author(s) (2015). Queer Lawfare and Political Backlash. Theoretical and comparative perspectives.

Show author(s) (2014). Litigating Health Rigths: Can courts bring more justice to health.

Show author(s) (2013). Promoting equity in health through litigation: Considerations for Advocates and Judges.
Show author(s) (2013). Priority Setting in Health: Process, Methods, and Institutions.
Show author(s) (2013). Opeationalising the right to health.
Show author(s) (2013). Constitutionalism, Human Rights and Informal Justice.
Show author(s) (2013). "Introduction", Juridification and Social Citizenship in the Welfare State.

Popular scientific lecture

Show author(s) (2022). Hva vi snakker om når vi snakker om menneskerettigheter.

Show author(s) (2021). Women on the Bench – The role of women judges in fragile states.
Show author(s) (2021). Challenges and learning from implementing legal abortion - global perspectives.

Show author(s) (2019). Researching sexual and reproductive rights lawfare, drivers of politicization and health effects of criminalization .
Show author(s) (2019). LGBT rights around the world – strides and setbacks.

Show author(s) (2018). Judging democratic backlash.
Show author(s) (2018). Den demokratiske rettsstatens kannibalisme .

Show author(s) (2016). International Law, Courts and Democracy in a Time of Extremism.

Show author(s) (2010). Litigating for medicines - does it bring justice to health?
Show author(s) (2010). Human Rights of LGBT people.

Show author(s) (2008). The Democratic Republic of Congo: Leaving the past- shaping the future" (Chair).
Show author(s) (2008). Roundtable Talk on Poverty and Human Rights (Chair).
Show author(s) (2008). Kommentar til Jonas Gahr Støres foredrag "FNs Verdenserklæring om menneskerettighetene 60 år: Dilemmaer for utenrikspolitikken?".

Show author(s) (2004). Demokratiske domstoler?
Show author(s) (2004). Apartheidregimet i Sør-Afrika.

Show author(s) (1999). Rettsstatsutvikling i Sør-Afrika.
Show author(s) (1999). Hvor går det sør-afrikanske demokratiet?
Show author(s) (1999). Hvor går det sør-afrikanske demokratiet?

Academic lecture

Show author(s) (2022). Researching Autocratization and Resistance in Comparative ‎Perspective.
Show author(s) (2022). Queer Lawfare in Africa: Queer Identities as Political Currency in Autocratisation Processes and Courts as Sites of Resistance.
Show author(s) (2022). LGBT+ Tolerance: Assessing the Impact of Judicial Decisions and Social Campaigns in Africa.
Show author(s) (2022). Healing the World: Global Public Health Challenges and Perspectives.

Show author(s) (2020). Dialogue symposium: Women on the Bench.
Show author(s) (2020). Autocratic Lawfare and Democratic Backsliding in Africa: Judicial Strategies for Repression and Courts as Arenas for Resistance .

Show author(s) (2018). Sexual and Reproductive Rights Lawfare.
Show author(s) (2018). Queer Lawfare: Global Battles.
Show author(s) (2018). Malawi: Democratic Fits and Starts. .
Show author(s) (2018). Identity and law - causes and effects of lawfare.
Show author(s) (2018). Authoritarian Constitutionalism in Sub-Saharan Africa .

Show author(s) (2017). The Right to Health and Maximum Available Resources.
Show author(s) (2017). Roundtable. The Transnational and Sub-national Study of Abortion Lawfare. Law and Society Annual Meeting, Mexico, 20-23 June 2017.
Show author(s) (2017). Researching Law and Social Transformation.
Show author(s) (2017). Political determinants of sexual & reproductive health (Globvac project).
Show author(s) (2017). Judicialisation of the right to health: effects beyond health outcomes.
Show author(s) (2017). Interview field work and observational methods in Constitutional Law.
Show author(s) (2017). Dialoges in Constitutional Law: Sexual & Reproductive Rights Lawfare: Global battles.
Show author(s) (2017). Constitutionalism 100 Years After the Mexican Constitution.
Show author(s) (2017). Conference on 'Land rights, Land Acquisition, and Inclusive Development in India'.
Show author(s) (2017). Conceptualizing Lawfare.
Show author(s) (2017). Africa’s legalized politics of homosexuality: dynamics & effects of criminalization.
Show author(s) (2017). Abortion Rights Lawfare (Theoretical Framwork).

Show author(s) (2016). Human rights - entitlement to health: what does it mean in practice and how can it affect priority setting for UHC?
Show author(s) (2016). Criminalization of Abortion and Same Sex intimacy in Africa: Triggers and Health Effects .
Show author(s) (2016). Abortion Rights Lawfare: A Conceptual Framwork.

Show author(s) (2015). The Role of Law in the Pursuit of Sustainable Development. Keynote address at bars 2015.
Show author(s) (2015). Sexual and Reproductive Rights Lafare. Global Battles.
Show author(s) (2015). Bergen Exchanges on Law & Social Transformation. Various presentations during the week and main responsibility for the conference.

Show author(s) (2013). ”Prioritization of healthcare: Comparative perspectives”.
Show author(s) (2013). Data requred to evaluate impact of courts decisions on social transformation: the right to health /La información que se requiere para evaluar el impacto de las instituciones jurídicas en la transformación social.
Show author(s) (2013). Courting elections in hybrid regimes.
Show author(s) (2013). Courting Elections in Hybrid Regimes.
Show author(s) (2013). Can courts bring social justice? Rights based welfare policy in a comparative perspective - The Annual Azim Premji Public Lecture.
Show author(s) (2013). "Challenges in translating the right to health into practice - addressing or creating inequality?".

Show author(s) (2010). Empowering ligitation? Analysing empowerment-impact of internationalized social rights litigation in South Africa.

Show author(s) (2008). Litigating the Right to Health.

Show author(s) (2005). The Accountability Function of the Ugandan Courts: Framework for inquiry.
Show author(s) (2005). Public interest litigation, social rights and public policy.
Show author(s) (2005). Public interest litigation, social rights and public policy.
Show author(s) (2005). Law and Poverty in Malawi: Towards Progressive Linkages.

Show author(s) (2004). The role of the judiciary in the 2004 General Elections in Malawi.
Show author(s) (2004). Socio-Economic Rights and Constitutionalism: Not by Litigation Alone?
Show author(s) (2004). Social Rights Litigation as Transformation.
Show author(s) (2004). Courts and Social Transformation: an Analytical Framework.
Show author(s) (2004). "The Institutional Context of the 2004 General Elections in Malawi: The Role of the Courts".

Show author(s) (2003). The Politics of Social Rights Litigation.
Show author(s) (2003). Analyzing the Role of Courts in Social Transformation: Social Rights Litigation, court responsiveness and capability.

Show author(s) (2002). The Accountability Function of the Courts in Zambia.
Show author(s) (2002). The Accountability Function of the Courts in Tanzania.
Show author(s) (2002). How to Assess the Political Role of the Zambian courts?
Show author(s) (2002). Accountability and the role of courts and institutions of restraint.

Editorial

Show author(s) (2021). Difficult trade-offs in response to COVID-19: the case for open and inclusive decision making. Nature Medicine. 10-13.

Show author(s) (2013). Introduction : climate change justice : narratives, rights and the poor. South African journal on human rights. 6-13.

Book review

Show author(s) (2004). Uferdig oppgjør. Om Jon Elsters "Oppgjøret med Fortiden Internasjonalt perspektiv på overgangen til demokrati" (Oslo: Pax 2004). Historisk Tidsskrift (Norge).

Academic anthology/Conference proceedings

Show author(s) (2022). Queer lawfare in Africa: Legal strategies in contexts of LGBTIQ+ criminalisation and politicisation. Pretoria University Law Press (PULP).

Show author(s) (2014). Klima, medier og politikk. Abstrakt forlag.
Show author(s) (2014). Juridification and social citizenship in the welfare state. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Show author(s) (2013). La lucha por los derechos de la salud: ¿puede la justicia ser una herramienta de cambio? Siglo XXI Editores.
Show author(s) (2013). CLIMATE TALK. Rights, Poverty and Justice. Juta Publishers.

Show author(s) (2011). Litigating Health Rights: Can Courts Bring More Justice to Health (Harvard Law School Human Rigthts Programme Series). Harvard University Press (HUP).

Show author(s) (2007). Globalization and democratization: Challenges for political parties. Fagbokforlaget.

Show author(s) (2005). Roads to Reconciliation. Lexington Books.

Show author(s) (2004). Democratization and the Judiciary: The Accountability Function of Courts in New Democracies. Frank Cass Publishers.
Show author(s) (2004). Democratization and the Judiciary. The Accountability Function of Courts in New Democracies. Frank Cass Publishers.

Academic monograph

Show author(s) (2010). Courts and power in Latin America and Africa.

Non-fiction book

Show author(s) (1997). South Africa: The Battle over the Constitution. Ashgate Publishing Limited.

Twitter

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Centre on Law and Social Transformation

In 2014, the Centre on Law & Social Transformation – LawTransform – was opened in collaboration between the Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI) and the University of Bergen. Researchers from law studies, social sciences and a number of other disciplines work together at the centre to look at how the...

Bergen School of Global Studies (BSGS)

Bergen School of Global Studies is a network for graduate students seeking cross-disciplinary knowledge to tackle global challenges. Activities take place across all seven faculties and their specialised departments and centres.

Launching the Bergen School of Global Studies

Bergen School of Global Studies seeks to strengthen the interdisciplinary English-language master programmes of relevance to global challenges.

New edited volume by Gloppen and Rakner: Klima, medier og politikk

Professors Siri Gloppen and Lise Rakner have co-edited "Klima, medier og politikk", a book that addresses energy politics discourse with particular emphasis on Norway as a petroleum producer. Elisabeth Eide and Dag Elgsem are co-editors.

Climate activists meet to discuss Gloppen and Rakner book

CICERO-Director Kristin Halvorsen and Friends of the Earth Norway Leader Lars Haltbrekken joined editors Elisabeth Eide, Siri Gloppen and Lise Rakner to discuss their new edited volume ‘Klima, medier og politikk’.

New volume co-edited by Gloppen: juridification and social citizenship in the welfare state

Professor Siri Gloppen and colleagues study the nature and effects of the juridification of welfare policy in a new edited volume published by Edward Elgar Publishing. Post-doctor Cornelius Cappelen and Professor Lise Rakner contribute chapters.

Gloppen in APSA's Task Force

The American Political Science Association's (APSA) "Task Force on Democracy, Economic Security, and Social Justice in a Volatile World" published it's final report this spring. Siri Gloppen, from the Department of Comparative Politics, has been a member of the task force.