Holberg Prize Talks

The Holberg Prize is delighted to present this interview with the 2025 Nils Klim Laureate, Daniela Alaattinoğlu. The podcast is a collaboration with the University of Turku. Alaattinoğlu is Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Turku. She receives the award for her research into how laws and societies evolve together, how groups mobilise for change, and how law intersectionally includes and excludes individuals and groups. Interviewer: Rosa Lampela, University of Turku The podcast is engineered and edited by Antti Tarponen, University of Turku.

The 2025 Holberg Laureate Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak in conversation with Professor Brent Hayes Edwards. In this interview, Professor Spivak talks about the major areas of her work, as well her life and career path. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak is a University Professor at Columbia University and a founding member of the establishment's Institute for Comparative Literature and Society. Brent Hayes Edwards is the Peng Family Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. This interview was conducted at Columbia University on 26 May 2025. We wish to extend our gratitude to Professor Spivak and Professor Edwards for producing this podcast for the Holberg Prize. Photo: Alice Attie.

On 5 June 2024 Holberg Laureate Achille Mbembe held his Holberg Lecture: "The Earthly Community" in the University Aula in Bergen. How should we inhabit anew and share as equitably as possible a planet whose life-support system has been so severely damaged by human activities as to be in dire need of repair? Achille Mbembe is Research Professor of History and Politics at Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of the Witwatersrand. He is also Director of the Innovation Foundation for Democracy. Photo: Eivind Senneset / The Holberg Prize

Siddharth Sareen is the 2024 Nils Klim Laureate. He receives the prize for his research in environmental social sciences. In this interview, he speaks about his background, his academic journey, his research interests, and the work that lead to his being rewarded the Nils Klim Prize. Sareen is professor of energy and environment at the Department of Media and Social Sciences, University of Stavanger. He is also professor II at the Centre for Climate and Energy Transformation (CET), University of Bergen. Interviewer: Professor Håvard Haarstad, Director at CET. The 2024 Holberg Week takes place from 4 -- 6 June in Bergen and Oslo. There Holberg Laureate Achille Mbembe and Nils Klim Laureate Siddharth Sareen will be celebrated with award ceremonies and acedemic events. For more information, see holbergprize.org.

The 2024 Laureate Achille Mbembe in conversation with Hlonipha Mokoena. Achille Mbembe is research professor of history and politics at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (WISER), at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (Wits). Hlonipha Mokoena is professor and acting Co-Director at WiSER, Wits University. The interview was conducted at Wits University, on 13 March, 2024. Achille Mbembe receives the 2024 Holberg Prize for his pioneering research in African history, postcolonial studies, humanities, and social science over four decades

The 2023 Holberg Prize was awarded to Catalan scholar Joan Martinez-Alier for his groundbreaking research in ecological economics, political ecology and environmental justice. Martinez-Alier is Professor Emeritus at the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB). In this interview, he talks about his academic scholarship and activism. Interviewer: Professor Håvard Haarstad, Department of Geography, University of Bergen. For more information see the Holberg Prize website: https://holbergprize.org/en. Photo: Eivind Senneset

Do conscious experiences happen both within and outside the brain, and can science solve the 'hard problem' of consciousness? At the 2023 Holberg Debate, Tanya Luhrmann, Anil Seth and Rupert Sheldrake met to explore the deep scientific and philosophical mystery of consciousness. The debate was chaired by David Malone. The Holberg Debate is an annual event organized by the Holberg Prize. You can read more and see previous enstallments at holbergprize.org/

On Wednesday, 7 June, the 2023 Holberg Prize Laureate Joan Martinez-Alier held the lecture: "Land, Water, Air and Freedom" in the University Aula in Bergen. Mapping geographies of resistance at the frontiers of commodity extraction and waste disposal in a world counter-movement for environmental justice. As the industrial economy grows, there is also growth and changes in the Social Metabolism. The economy is not circular, it is entropic. There are thousands of “ecological distribution conflicts” at the frontiers of commodity extractions and waste disposal. Their protagonists display many different valuation languages and repertoires of action. “Land, Water, Air and Freedom” seems a good slogan and also a short description of the aims of the world movements for environmental justice. Photo: Eivind Senneset / The Holberg Prize

The 2022 Holberg Debate: "Will Fear Keep Us Safe?" How will the war in Ukraine and other geopolitical crises impact the global security order, and what do they mean for the power of deterrence ? Panel: John J. Mearsheimer and Carl Bildt Moderator: Cecilie Hellestveit Organizer: The Holberg Prize John J. Mearsheimer is the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, where he has taught since 1982. He graduated from West Point (1970), has a PhD in political science from Cornell University (1981), and has written extensively about security issues and international politics. Among Mearsheimer's six books, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics (2001, 2014) won the Joseph Lepgold Book Prize; and The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy (with Stephen M. Walt, 2007), made the New York Times bestseller list and has been translated into twenty-five languages. His latest book is The Great Delusion: Liberal Ideals and International Realities (2018), which won the 2019 Best Book of the Year Award from the Valdai Discussion Conference, Moscow. In addition, Mearsheimer has a forthcoming book (with Sebastian Rosato), Homo Theoreticus: Rationality in International Politics. He has also written numerous articles and op-eds that have appeared in International Security, London Review of Books, Foreign Affairs, The Financial Times, and The New York Times. In 2003, Mearsheimer was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and in 2020, he won the James Madison Award, which is given once every three years by the American Political Science Association to “an American political scientist who has made a distinguished scholarly contribution to political science.” Carl Bildt is Co-Chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations and contributing columnist to The Washington Post, as well as columnist for Project Syndicate. He serves as Senior Advisor to the Wallenberg Foundations in Sweden and is on the Board of Trustees of the RAND Corporation in the US. Bildt has served as both Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Sweden. In March 2021, Bildt was appointed WHO Special Envoy for the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-Accelerator). Subsequently he served in international functions with the EU and UN, primarily related to the conflicts in the Balkans. Bildt was Co-Chairman of the Dayton peace talks on Bosnia and become the first High Representative in the country. Later, he was the Special Envoy of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to the region. Cecilie Hellestveit (moderator) is a lawyer and social scientist with a PhD in international humanitarian law (IHL) from the University of Oslo. She has been associated with a number of research institutes in Norway and abroad. Hellestveit researches and teaches in the field of international law, use of force, and armed conflicts. holbergprize.org

"Expertise, Democracy and the Politics of Trust" 2022 Holberg Laureate Sheila Jasanoff in conversation with Professor Cathrine Holst. Phenomena such as climate skepticism and vaccine refusal indicate a loss of trust in relations between experts and publics in modern democracies. Comparisons of expert decision-making across democratic societies suggest that reliance on particular forms of evidence-making and public reason differ across political cultures. Trust in expertise emerges as a political achievement that cannot be short-circuited by scientific authority alone. The remedy for breakdowns in trust lies in persuading publics that what experts know does indeed support official policies and regulatory actions. This often calls for better politics, not more science. Sheila Jasanoff is Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies at the Harvard Kennedy School. A pioneer in the social sciences, she explores the role of science and technology in the law, politics, and policy of modern democracies. Jasanoff founded and directs the STS Program at Harvard University. Her books include The Fifth Branch (1990), Science at the Bar (1995), Designs on Nature (2005), The Ethics of Invention (2016), and Can Science Make Sense of Life? (2019). Cathrine Holst is Professor of Sociology at the University of Oslo. She has chaired several research projects on the role of experts in democracies. In 2020/2021, she chaired a multidisciplinary research group at the Centre for Advanced Study (CAS) in Oslo, and the project "What is a good policy? Political morality, feasibility and democracy". In 2022/2033, Holst is a visiting researcher at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge. This event is a part of the 2022 Holberg Week, which took place 7—10 June.

The Holberg Lecture by Sheila Jasanoff was held on 8 June 2022 in Bergen, as part of the 2022 Holberg Week Programme. Science and technology are so commonly seen as drivers of progress that their role in forming the horizons of individual and collective self-understanding often passes unnoticed in political theory and practice. STS corrects this imbalance by revealing what we know and how we apply our knowledge to be thoroughly political projects. By unsettling the parameters of social order, science and technology also trouble—and perhaps expand—how we exercise political agency and enact life's purposes. Sheila Jasanoff is Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies at the Harvard Kennedy School. A pioneer in her field, she has authored more than 130 articles and chapters and is author or editor of more than 15 books, including "The Fifth Branch" (1990), "Science at the Bar" (1995), "Designs on Nature" (2005), "The Ethics of Invention" (2016), and "Can Science Make Sense of Life?" (2019). Her work explores the role of science and technology in the law, politics, and policy of modern democracies.

The 2021 Holberg Debate: "Identity Politics and Culture Wars" Does identity politics as it is currently manifesting itself offer a suitable avenue towards social justice, or has it become a recipe for cultural antagonism, political polarization, and new forms of injustice? Panel: Judith Butler, Cornel West, Glenn Greenwald. Moderator: Simon Critchley The event was recorded on 4 December 2021, at SA Studios in New York.

In 2017, Katrine Vellesen Løken became Nils Klim Laureate. In this 2021 interview, she discusses her career choices and motivation, and describes her research interests. Vellesen Løken is interviewed by Ine Røvik for the Holberg Prize.

The Holberg Lecture by Holberg Laureate Martha C. Nussbaum was held on 8 June, 2021. Animals suffer injustice at our hands: the cruelties of the factory farming industry, poaching and trophy hunting, assaults on the habitats of many creatures, and innumerable other instances of cruelty and neglect. Human domination is everywhere: in the seas, where marine mammals die from ingesting plastic; in the skies, where migratory birds die in large numbers from air pollution; and, obviously, on the land, where the habitats of many large mammals have been destroyed almost beyond repair. Addressing these large problems requires dedicated work and effort. But it also requires a good normative theory to direct our efforts. Martha C. Nussbaum is Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics, University of Chicago. She was awarded the 2021 Holberg Prize for her groundbreaking contributions to philosophy, law and related fields. See our webiste: holbergprize.org for more information.

In this lecture Jürgen Kocka speaks about the history of the European Union and its present challenges. The lecture was held at the University of Agder in Kristiansand, Norway 5 May 2014, as part of the 10th year anniversary of the Holberg Prize. The Holberg Prize was awarded to Jürgen Kocka in 2011. Kocka is a historian of modern Germany and Europe and he is particularly interested in comparative approaches, social history and cooperation with the social sciences.

Dealing with Strangeness: Information Flow and Language in a Colonial Slave Society Holberg Lecture by Natalie Zemon Davis at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, May 8th 2014. The Holberg Lectures was a series of lectures with previous Holberg Prize laureates held as part of the ten-year anniversary of the Holberg Prize. The Holberg Prize was established by the Norwegian Government in 2003. The Holberg Prize is awarded annually to scholars who have made outstanding contributions to research in the arts and humanities, social science, law or theology. Natalie Zemon Davis received the Holberg Prize in 2010.

This lecture by Jürgen Habermas was held at at the University of stavanger, on 11 September 2014, as part of the ten-year anniversary of the Holberg Prize. Jürgen Habermas recieved the Holberg Prize in 2005. The Holberg Prize was established by the Norwegian Government in 2003. The Holberg Prize is awarded annually to scholars who have made outstanding contributions to research in the humanities, social sciences, law or theology.

In this lecture Julia Kristeva proposes a new interpretation of the experience of revolt: far from simply a negation or contestation of the norm, revolt is a transvaluation of memory, a reconstruction of subjectivity. Setting out from this definition, Kristeva stresses the personal experience of revolt as an infinite refounding of the self, and as a motor of social change. The lecture was held as part of the Holberg Prize 10 Years' anniversary at the University of Bergen on 11 September in 2014,

In this interview from June 4 , 2018 Holberg Laureate Cass R. Sunstein talks about his research, his background , and how he has worked to promote enduring constitutional ideals - freedom, dignity, equality, self-government, the rule of law - under contemporary circumstances. Sunstein is interviewed by Anine Kierulf, Research Director at the Norwegian National Human Rights Institution. Cass R. Sunstein is currently the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard University. From 2009 to 2012, he was Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, where he helped oversee a wide range of reforms involving safety, air quality, civil rights, open government, climate change, economic opportunity, health, and reduction of poverty. He is the founder and director of the Program on Behavioural Economics and Public Policy at Harvard Law School. Mr. Sunstein has been involved in constitution-making and law reform activities in many nations. His government service includes membership on President Barack Obama's Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies (2013) and the U.S. Department of Defense's Innovation Board (2016-2017).

In this interview, 2017 Holberg Laureate Onora O’Neill discusses a variety of topics, including Immanuel Kant and public reason, human rights and duties, the ethics for communication and the dilemmas that arise from media globalisation. O’Neill is interviewed by Professor of Philosophy Lars Fredrik Svendsen, University of Bergen. Baroness Onora O’Neill is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge, a crossbench member of the House of Lords and a former President of the British Academy (2005–2009).

Stephen Greenblatt, John Cogan University Professor at Harvard University, is the 2016 Holberg Laureate. In this interview Greenblatt shares his thoughts on the role of New Historicism in literary studies, the socio-economic changes in the US in the 1960's and 1970's, and how the work of William Shakespeare is still relevant today, 400 years after his death. Greenblatt is interviewed by Charles Ivan Armstrong, Professor of English Literature at the University of Agder. The production is a collaboration between the Holberg Prize and the University of Bergen.

Marina Warner received the Holberg Prize in 2015 for her work on the analysis of stories and myths and how they reflect their time and place. Professor Dame Marina Warner, FBA, is Professor of English and Creative Writing at Birkbeck College, University of London, Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, and Professorial Research Fellow at SOAS. Warner is Interviewed by Kari Jegerstedt from the University of Bergen.

This lecture by Manuel Castells was held at the University of Nordland in Bodø, 15 May, 2014 as part of a series of Holberg Lectures celebrating the 10th year anniversary of the Holberg Prize. The Holberg Prize is awarded annually to scholars who have made outstanding contributions to research in the arts and humanities, social science, law or theology. Manuel Castells recieved the Holberg Prize in 2014.

Fifty years after the 1968 revolt, how important are affects in influencing the behavior of voters, activists and policy makers? Achille Mbembe, Kathleen Cleaver and George Galloway met in Bergen on 1 December, 2018 to discuss these issues at the Holberg Debate: "Politics and Affects: The Dynamics of Social Mobilization". This recording is the keynote George Galloway held at the debate. George Galloway is a British politician, activist, writer and broadcaster. He is a former Member of Parliament in the UK and has been a vocal participant in public debate over the last five decades, particularly in matters related to anti-war efforts, Middle East conflicts, racism and class struggle.

Fifty years after the 1968 revolt, how important are affects in influencing the behavior of voters, activists and policy makers? Achille Mbembe, Kathleen Cleaver and George Galloway met in Bergen on 1December, 2018 to discuss these issues at the 2018 Holberg Debate: "Politics and Affects: The Dynamics of Social Mobilization" This recording is the keynote Achille Mbembe held at the debate. Achille Mbembe is a Cameroonian historian, philosopher and political theorist who specializes in African history and politics. He is Professor at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. Mbembe is particularly well known for his work on post-colonialism and race.

The Danish theologian Frederik Poulsen was awarded the 2020 Nils Klim Prize for his outstanding contributions to Old Testament Studies. His work is characterised by an innovative combination of historical-critical and literary methodologies that have enabled him to cast new light on the ancient texts of the bible. Frederik Poulsen is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Theology at the University of Copenhagen. Interviewer: Anne Katrine de Hemmer Gudme, Professor in theology, University of Oslo.

Professor Timothy Garton Ash of the University of Oxford is the keynote speaker of the first Holberg Debate in 2016. He was invited to elaborate on the central themes of his book "Free Speech: Ten Principles for a Connected World". Following an interview with Anine Kierulf, Professor Garton Ash joins in a panel discussion with Jostein Gripsrud and Kari Steen-Johnsen about dilemmas related to free speech, information controll and the need for civilized conflict in modern multicultural societies.

The 2020 Holberg Prize is awarded to British-Canadian scholar Griselda Pollock for her groundbreaking contributions to feminist art history and cultural studies. In this interview, Pollock discusses her background and her research, the history of art history, the women's movement, and more. Griselda Pollock is Professor of Social and Critical Histories of Art and Director of CentreCATH (Centre for Cultural Analysis, Theory & History) at the University of Leeds. Interviewer: Mathias Danbolt, Associate Professor of Art History, University of Copenhagen.

At the 2020 Holberg Debate, Amb. John Bolton and Member of the Hellenic Parliament Yanis Varoufakis discussed current threats to regional and global stability. The debate took place on 5 December and was chaired from Bergen, Norway. At the 2020 Holberg Debate we were joined via videolink by two top speakers who have both been important policy makers at crucial times in their respective countries: Member of the Hellenic Parliament and former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis and Ambassador John Bolton (US), former National Security Advisor and US Ambassador to the UN. Moderator for the event is Scott Gates, Professor of Political Science at the University of Oslo (UiO), as well as Guest Researcher at UiO’s Department of Economics and Research Professor at Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). The Holberg Debate is an annual event organised by the Holberg Prize. The debate is inspired by Ludvig Holberg's Enlightenment ideas and aims to explore pressing issues of our time.

Slavoj Žižek has been called the «the most dangerous philosopher in the West» and a cultural theorist superstar, as he mixes Marxism with pop culture and psychoanalysis. In an age where the principles of the free marked have become the driving force of both the economy, public services, foreign policy, and education, “communism” remains a dirty word among the political establishment. Three decades after the fall of «Communism» in Eastern Europe, so why does Žižek still call himself a communist? Programme: - Introduction by Ellen Mortensen, Academic Director of the Holberg Prize - Keynote adress by Professor Slavoj Žižek, Senior Researcher in Philosophy at the University of Ljubljana - Slavoj Žižek is interviewed by Professor Tyler Cowen, Holberg L. Harris Professor of Economics at George Mason University Q&A with video link participants and the live audience - End of event Time: 7 December, 2019 Venue: The University Aula in Bergen, Norway

2019 Nils Klim Laureate Finnur Dellsén is Senior Lecturer of Philosophy at the University of Iceland. In this interview he discusses a range of topics, including his research in the philosophy of science, when to trust experts, and what constitutes scientific progress. Interviewer is Ole Thomassen Hjortland, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Bergen. The Holberg Prize is awarded annually to scholars who have made outstanding contributions to research in the humanities, social sciences, law or theology. The Nils Klim Prize is awarded annually to a younger researcher from a Nordic country, for outstanding research contributions in the above fields. (Photo: Eivind Senneset)

In this interview, 2019 Holberg Prize Laureate Paul Gilroy discusses a range of topics, including his childhood and adolesence in post-colonial Britain, his research on race and identity, and how to best meet the threats posed by neo-fascism and the climate crisis. Paul Gilroy is Professor of the Humanities and Director of the Centre for the Study of Race and Racism at UCL. Interviewer is Bjørn Enge Bertelsen, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Bergen. The interview was recorded on 3 June, 2019. Produced by the Holberg Prize, in collaboration with the University of Bergen. (Photo: Eivind Senneset)

In connection with the Holberg Committee meeting in Rome on 8 January, 2019, Committee member Mary Beard held a lecture at the Royal Norwegian Embassy on 7 January. The title of the lecture was: "What's the Point of Ancient Rome". Mary Beard is Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge, a fellow of Newnham College, and Royal Academy of Arts Professor of Ancient Literature. She is the Classics editor of The Times Literary Supplement, where she also writes a regular blog, "A Don's Life". The Holberg Prize is awarded annually to scholars who have made outstanding contributions to research in the humanities, social sciences, law or theology. The recipient of the 2019 Holberg Prize will be announced on 14 March, at holbergprize.com.

2018 Nils Klim Laureate Franscesca R. Jensenius discusses her research, her background and more. Dr. Jensenius, Senior Research Fellow at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), will receive the 2018 Nils Klim Prize for her research on elections, development patterns, and the empowerment of minority groups and women in India and elsewhere. The podcast is produced by NUPI and the Holberg Prize. Interviewer is Elana Wilson Rowe, Senior Research Fellow at NUPI. The interview was recorded on 5 March, 2018.

The Holberg Lecture is given by the 2018 Holberg Laureate, Professor Cass Sunstein. If people have freedom of choice, do their lives go better? Under what conditions? By what criteria? Consider three distinct problems: (1) In countless situations, human beings face a serious problem of “navigability”; they do not know how to get to their preferred destination, whether the issue involves health, education, employment, or well-being in general. This problem is especially challenging for people who live under conditions of severe deprivation, but it can be significant for all of us. (2) Many of us face problems of self-control, and our decisions today endanger our own future. What we want, right now, hurts us, next year. (3) In some cases, we would actually be happy or well-off with two or more different outcomes, whether the issue involves our jobs, our diets, our city, or even our friends and partners, and the real question, on which good answers are increasingly available, is what most promotes our welfare. The evaluative problem, in such cases, is especially challenging if a decision would alter people’s identify, values, or character. Private and public institutions -- including small companies, large companies, governments – can help people to have better lives, given (1), (2), and (3). About Cass Sunstein Professor Cass Sunstein is currently Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard University. He is widely regarded as the leading scholar of administrative law in the U.S. and his scholarship spans several major areas, notably behavioral economics and public policy, constitutional law and democratic theory, legal theory and jurisprudence, and the regulation of risk. From 2009 to 2012, he was Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, where he helped oversee a wide range of reforms involving safety, air quality, civil rights, open government, climate change, economic opportunity, health, and reduction of poverty. He is the founder and Director of the Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy at Harvard Law School. The lecture was recorded at the University Aula in Bergen, Norway, on June 5, 2018.

For the Holberg Masterclass on June 4, 2018, The Holberg Prize invited six Nordic PhD candidates to discuss the topic "What to do about Human Error" with 2018 Holberg Laureate Cass Sunstein. The event took place at the University of Bergen, Norway. What to Do About Human Error. In recent decades, we have learned a great deal about human error. For example, people tend to focus on the present rather than the future; to be unrealistically optimistic; to make mistakes in assessing risks; to be overconfident; and to pay attention to only a subset of the considerations before them. Obesity is one result; another is premature death. A large question, for societies and individuals alike, is what to do about human error. What interventions, from the private or public sector, would work best? When is coercion justified? When is liberty the solution? What about education? What is the role of machine learning and algorithms? About Cass Sunstein Professor Cass Sunstein is currently Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard University. He is widely regarded as the leading scholar of administrative law in the U.S. and his scholarship spans several major areas, notably behavioral economics and public policy, constitutional law and democratic theory, legal theory and jurisprudence, and the regulation of risk. From 2009 to 2012, he was Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, where he helped oversee a wide range of reforms involving safety, air quality, civil rights, open government, climate change, economic opportunity, health, and reduction of poverty. He is the founder and Director of the Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy at Harvard Law School. The PhD candidates are: Max Carlin, Lund University – Public Law Esmaralda Colombo, University of Bergen – Climate Law Matthijs Maas, University of Copenhagen – Law Valgerdur Solnes, University of Iceland; University of Copenhagen – Law. Aksel Braanen Sterri, University of Oslo – Philosophy. Jarno Olavi Touminen, University of Turku – Psychology.

The 2018 Nils Klim Laureate Francesca R. Jensenius presents her research and discusses the use of electoral quotas in India with Pradeep Chhibber, Pratap Mehta and Anne Waldrop. Electoral quotas have played an important role in Indian politics for the past century. Many groups have demanded and still demand quotas, often on the basis of arguments that quotas are needed to bring “their” perspectives into politics – that a guaranteed political presence will result in better representation of their group’s interests. In the book Social Justice through Inclusion: The Consequences of Electoral Quotas in India (OUP 2017), Francesca R. Jensenius provided evidence of the long-term effects of electoral quotas for one of India’s most marginalized communities, the Scheduled Castes (the former “untouchables”). Drawing on extensive qualitative and quantitative data she showed that the quotas to a limited extent have contributed to the mobilization around, and representation of, group interests for SCs, but that they have played in important role in breaking social boundaries by integrating SCs into the mainstream political elite. What are the implications of these findings for the discussion of other groups’ demands for quotas in India? In this seminar, Jensenius presents key findings in the book and discusses some of the implications these findings have for the debates about quotas for other communities in India – including the so-called Other Backward Classes, women and religious communities. The keynote is followed be talks by Drs. Pratap Bhanu Mehta (Vice-Chancellor, Ashoka University), Anne Waldrop (Professor, OsloMet), and Pradeep Chhibber (Professor, University of Californa Berkeley). The event is moderated by Professor Siri Gloppen, University of Bergen.

Should free speech laws be changed, and if so, how? How should the US approach the issue of gun control? And has the US Supreme Court become too politicized? These are some of the questions that 2018 Holberg Laureate Cass Sunstein addresses in this interview. Interviewer: Professor Ivar Bleiklie Photo: Rose Lincoln

I 2011 vant Jørn Jacobsen Nils Klim-prisen for sin forskning på norsk strafferett. I dette intervjuet fra 2017 snakker han blant annet om hvorfor han valgte en akademisk karriere, om verdien av rettsteori og om utfordringer for strafferetten. Intervjuet er foretatt av Marita Ramsvik for Holbergprisen.

Professor Claes de Vreese speaks on the topic of “Dealing with Populism: A Challenge for the News Media.” The lecture took place on 9 February 2018, at a reception for the Holberg Prize at the Royal Norwegian Honorary Consulate General. In 2004, de Vreese was the very first recipient of the Nils Klim Prize, awarded by the Holberg Prize organization to researchers under the age of 35, also in humanities, social sciences, law and theology. He is now Professor and Chair of Political Communication at the University of Amsterdam.

In 2004, Claes de Vreese became the first Nils Klim Laureate. In this 2017 interview, he discusses pressing political issues and describes his research interests, which range from political communication and media framing to electoral behavior, and more. De Vreese is interviewed by Marita Ramsvik for the Holberg Prize.

Are we currently seeing a global war of information that is escalating, both openly and covertly, far beyond what many of us are aware of? And to what extent does the presence of propaganda and manipulated information in news and social media threaten our democracy and our ability to make informed decisions? 00:00:00 Introduction 00:10:19 Keynote address - Julian Assange 00:29:42 Interview with Assange 00:55:35 Assange's Q&A with the audience 01:19:07 Keynote address - Jonathan Heawood 01:43:26 Keynote address - John Pilger 02:17:27 Heawood's and Pilger's Q&A with the audience Julian Assange joins the panel via videolink. Assange is an award-winning journalist and the founder and editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks. He is also a programmer, cryptographer, author and activist. Founded in 2006, WikiLeaks has published millions of leaked documents and several videos. This includes logs that relate to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the controversial “Collateral Murder” video from Iraq, U.S. diplomatic cables, and election campaign related e-mails from the Democratic National Committee and from Hillary Clinton's campaign manager, John Podesta. Jonathan Heawood is the CEO and founder of IMPRESS, the only press regulator to be recognised as independent and effective under the Royal Charter in the United Kingdom. He has previously worked as a journalist and human rights campaigner, and he is a former director of English PEN. Heawood has written on free speech and regulation for various publications, including The Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century Fiction, Critical Quarterly, Journal of Media Law, Ethical Space and Communications Law. John Pilger is an Australian journalist, author and documentary film-maker. Pilger has covered military, political and cultural conflicts around the world for more than five decades, and his criticism of American, Australian and British foreign policy is strongly reflected his documentaries and writings. He worked at the Daily Mirror from 1963 to 1986 and wrote a regular column for the New Statesman magazine from 1991 to 2014. Pilger has won numerous awards as a journalist and film-maker, and he is one of only two people to win British journalism’s highest award twice.

Holberg Laureates Stephen Greenblatt and Manuel Castells discuss the status of the humanities and the social sciences, at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, September 22, 2017.

Holberg Laureates Stephen Greenblatt and Manuel Castells discuss the status of the humanities and the social sciences, at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, September 22, 2017.

The Norwegian Economist Katrine Vellesen Løken was awarded the Nils Klim Prize in 2017 for her research on the Nordic welfare states, with particular emphasis on family economics, labour economics and health economics. In this interview Vellesen Løken talks about her research, developments in the field of Economics and her future plans. Interviewer; Ole Andreas Sandmo Photo: Thor Brødreskift / The Holberg Prize

The British Philosopher Onora O'Neill is awarded the Holberg Prize 2017 for her influental work in the field of moral and political philosophy. She is particularly well known for her work on Kant, bioethics, human rights, trust and communication ethics. O'Neill is a also a crossbench member of the House of Lords since 1999 and a former President of the British Academy. In this interview, she speaks about her background, carreer and work.

How are environmental issues a legal concern, and what are the mechanisms that control environmental markets and emissions trading? These are some of the questions 2016 Nils Klim Laureate Sanja Bogojević answers in this interview.

The 2015 Holberg Prize goes to the distinguished and praised mythographer and author Marina Warner (b. 1946). In this special episode of Udannet Knut talks with Warner about her upbringing and her way into the academics. Warner also elaborates on her approach to fairytales, myth, history and gender. At the end of the episode, Warner talks about the significance of getting the Prize and why she quit her position at the University of Essex. This episode was produced in collaboration between The Holberg Prize 2015 and the podcast U-dannet, http://u-dan.net/ . The Holberg Prize is awarded annually to scholars who have made outstanding contributions to research in the arts and humanities, social science, law or theology. The Prize amounts to 4.5 million NOK (app. 538.000 EUR / 735.000 USD).

Losing Home, Finding Words: Transformations of Story. The Holberg Lecture 2015 by Marina Warner, Fellow of All Souls and Professor of English and Creative Writing, Birkbeck College, University of London