Human rights
Human rights norms revolve around the sacredness of the individual. They have a long history, stretching back long before the Universal Declaration on Human Rights in 1948.
Over the course of the last two decades in particular, human rights norms have increasingly come to define a framework for political debates about development, conflict, environmental issues, trade, humanitarian relief, and more. This development has gone hand in hand with an increased inclusion of human rights norms in national legislation.
Research on human rights includes:
• The spread of human rights and their variable implementation within different states
• More legally oriented studies explore the legal status of human rights norms compared to other legal norms
• A more novel, and critical, strand of analysis focus on how human rights discourses facilitate some types of political claims while foreclosing others, and on how some actors become empowered to speak on behalf of larger groups
News about human rights
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Has the West forgotten about Chechnya?
6 Dec 2019PODCAST: Ramzan Kadyrov’s reign in Chechnya has cast a wave of fear and oppression across this Russian republic. What does that mean for the people living there, and for those who have fled the region in fear? And why don’t we talk more about this in the West?
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Information worth killing for
2 Apr 2019What is the role of investigative journalism in unveiling financial secrecy?
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China meets the Nordics at NUPI
6 Sep 2017How does the world appear seen from China and the Nordics?
Publications about human rights
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Publication
: Academic anthology
The Fight Over Freedom in 20th- and 21st-Century International Discourse Moments of ‘self-determination’
This book shows how international discourse citing ‘self-determination’ over the last hundred years has functioned as a battleground between two ideas of freedom: a ‘radical’ idea of freedom, and a ‘liberal-conservative’ idea of freedom. The book offers new insights into the historical times in which... -
Publication
: Report
Democracy and Human Rights in Contemporary Latin America (2015-2020): Trends, challenges, and prospects
2020Through a review of scholarly and other well-informed articles as well as media reports, this CMI Report aims to summarize discussions on challenges for democracy and human rights in Latin America during the last half-decade. The region faces a highly difficult economic outlook, consisting of low commodity... -
Publication
: Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
States of exception: Freedom of Speech, Liberal Identities, and European Politics of Security
This chapter deals with dilemmas of current European Security Politics in relation to freedom of speech and liberal values more broadly, in what I call the ‘double exceptionalism’ of liberal security policy. Empirically, I focus on the Norwegian balance after the terrorist attack on 22 July 2011. The...
Research projects about human rights
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Foto: John Taggart/Reuters/NTB Scanpix
Research project
China and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (CHINSDG)
2018 - 2019 (Ongoing)What are Chinese priorities in relation to the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and how do Chinese actors promote their interests and prospects for international cooperation?
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Research project
Global Re-ordering: Evolution through European Networks (GR:EEN)
2011 - 2015 (Completed)GR:EEN will study the current and future role of the EU in an emerging multi-polar world through a programme of stock-taking, multi-disciplinary research and complementary activities.