Legal regulation in an era of deglobalization: socio-legal perspectives on technology, migration, democracy, and war

We live in a time of profound change with continuous crises, worsening climate conditions, and a global rise of authoritarian tendencies and polices. The initiative 'Legal Regulation in a Time of Deglobalization: Legal-Sociological Perspectives on Technology, Migration, Democracy, and War (DEGLOBAL)' examines what happens with regulation and knowledge production in fields such as technology, migration, crime, war, human rights, and democracy. The initiative contributes to a critical discussion around the concept of deglobalization. Deglobalization is understood as a movement towards more isolationist nation-states and regional blocks. Deglobalization has been understood, among other things, as a setback for liberal-oriented internationalism, a decoupling of global supply chains, and restrictions on trade; and a political focus on local solutions instead of global dependency. The DEGLOBAL network arranges seminars and workshops, research visits, participates in national and international workshops and conferences, facilitates research stays abroad, and establishes new national and international networks. Global and Local Perspectives: Because the purpose is to investigate aspects of globalization, we combine overarching discussions on topics such as technology, academic publishing, and the decolonization of law and academia with country and topic-specific perspectives. In 2024, the network has, among other things, arranged a seminar on the relationship between national security, counter-terrorism, and human rights in Pakistan, focusing on how legal and political discussions frame security and rights as either complementary or competing objectives. We have also highlighted dilemmas surrounding decolonization and international legislation by discussing Ghana - for example, the criminalization of LGBTQ+ at the intersection of international human rights, international politics, and the academic debate on decolonization. Knowledge Production: Academia is influenced not only by external pressures from authorities, non-democratic forces, and commercial demands but also by increasing internal contradictions, especially regarding how to shape the researcher's role at the intersection between dissemination and activism, but also regarding who gets to participate, be included, and given a voice. This is particularly relevant concerning the Russia-Ukraine war and Israel's war in Gaza and Lebanon. We have discussed how the technical processes around article publishing and organizing special issues have also become somewhat politicized processes and what challenges this poses for younger researchers. Another central theme is the question of what artificial intelligence does to research and publishing and what systematic technology-generated fraud in the international publishing industry does to the trust in research but also how this crisis indirectly affects who is seen as credible actors and the risk of further marginalization of researchers from the global south. Disciplinary Perspectives on Deglobalization: The network has also focused on how different disciplines (international relations, criminology, sociology of law) produce knowledge about international institutions and how the differences in terminology and method can provide us with valuable critical insights regarding whether the development represents a form of further globalization of, for instance, international criminal law and the global human rights advocacy profession, or a regression. Recently, we organized a seminar on punishment and legal regulation in a time of change in the USA and Europe.

This project brings together Nordic and international socio-legal researchers who are working on legal regulation and research on regulatory developments within several of the topical fields mentioned in the call; technology, migration, immigration and integration management as well as punishment, war, human rights, and democracy. In recent years, in all of these areas of legal regulation has become increasingly contested partly due to what has been termed deglobalization: a movement towards more powerful isolationist nation states and regional blocs; a move away from liberal internationalism; the decoupling of global supply chains and restrictions on trade; and a political focus on local solutions and diminishing interdependence in the world. Grappling with the meaning of ‘law during deglobalization’, the network members address the following core questions: • What is deglobalization and how does it shape political uses of law, grassroots legal mobilization, national and transnational norm-development and legal outcomes? • Which societal processes inform the development – and potential decline – of national and international legal regulation? • How does legal regulation relate to societal cohesion – and what are the possible implications of a decline of the legitimacy of international regulation for individuals and communities? • What is the current relationship between legal regulation and legal pluralism? • How has the rise of international law shaped the political and societal understanding of legal regulation, and how might this change in a time of deglobalization? The Network will be structured around six interrelated activity clusters consisting of seminars and workshops, research visits, participation in national and international workshops and conferences, research stays abroad and the establishment of new national and international networks.