About the project
Basic rule of law principles are increasingly being challenged not only in distant autocracies, but also in European democracies. Unfortunately, we know little about popular discontent with, or support for, the rule of law. The research project 'Rule of Law and the Public Sense of Justice in Norway' (PublicJustice) investigates the degree to which political leaders have popular backing when they challenge, undermine or defend the rule of law?
'PublicJustice' will carry out empirical studies of how the rule of law is perceived and applied in the legislative and judicial branches, and how the population in Norway values the rule of law.
The interdisciplinary research team will produce new knowledge on how to strengthen the rule of law in times of crisis. The analysis will provide knowledge useful to democracies seeking to strengthen the rule of law in times of crisis.
Method
The project integrates qualitative document analysis and focus-group interviews with quantitative surveys comprising over 5,000 respondents across Norway.
Objectives
Primary objectives:
- To significantly increase our understanding of how the rule of law is perceived, observed and applied in the Norwegian state.
- Deepen our understanding of how the public perceive and value the rule of law.
Secondary objectives:
- Map, locate and explain differences in how legislators, judges and the Norwegian public perceive and value the rule of law.
- Contribute to theoretical debates on the rule of law, legal consciousness and public sentiments on justice.
- Contribute to an informed public debate on the rule of law in Norway and in democracies globally.
Outcomes
'PublicJustice' will achieve the following:
- Unite three schools of research and develop them empirically and theoretically: Studies on the rule of law, legal consciousness, and the public sense of justice.
- Add significantly to our understanding of how the rule of law is perceived, applied and valued within the Norwegian state and among the public.
- Engage a wide, international and interdisciplinary academic audience covering sociology of law, sociology, criminology, history, and political science.
- Place UiO and Norway as an internationally leading research environment for empirical rule of law studies.
- Qualify public debates on the rule of law and inform concrete policy making.
- Provide crucial knowledge for future efforts to strengthen democracies by supporting the rule of law.
Background
We are currently witnessing a global rule of law recession. In Europe, a significant rule of law backslide has occurred in several countries and produced a rule of law crisis within the EU member states. In that sense, basic rule of law principles, often taken for granted in democratic countries, are increasingly questioned and to some extent abandoned. It is therefore vital to study the rule of law – the Rechtsstaat that we base our democracies on – and the degree to which it has public support or not. This is what PublicJustice aims to do.
The rule of law crisis is connected to events in recent decades. While the fall of the Berlin Wall led to increased belief in the resilience of a liberal democratic order, the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001 produced a human rights crisis within liberal democracies that was subsequently fuelled by the migration crisis in 2015 and a general surge in nationalism and populism. All this has happened in the context of a growing sense of global crisis spurred by the economic recession of 2007-2009, climate change, wars on several continents and the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, leading to a less connected world with a stronger focus on the nation state and border control as opposed to a global world order governed by international conventions and institutions. This has been interpreted as a form of deglobalization, and recent theoretical discussions on this development seek to explain, among other things, the increasing national resistance to international laws and norms.
