Johan Karlsson Schaffer

Johan Karlsson Schaffer is a Professor of International Relations at the Department of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg, where he has worked since August 2016. He was promoted to Professor in 2024 and received the title of Excellent Teacher in 2022. Previously, he worked at the Norwegian Center for Human Rights, University of Oslo, from 2009 to 2017, and held a visiting professorship at the Faculty of Law, University of Oslo during 2018–2019. Since 2020, he has served as editor of the Nordic Journal of Human Rights.

Professor Schaffer's research focuses on human rights politics, legal mobilization, and judicial politics, with particular attention to the Nordic countries. His current research examines how civil society groups mobilize rights claims in courts to seek redress and political change, and how the political role of courts has evolved. He also explores the interface between political theory and international relations, including human rights philosophy, cosmopolitanism, transnational democracy, epistemic and deliberative democratic theory, and the authority of international institutions. His work often centers on Sámi land rights litigation in Scandinavia.

His recent scholarship reveals a consistent focus on legal mobilization as a political strategy, particularly examining how rights claims are advanced through judicial channels in Nordic contexts. His publications demonstrate interdisciplinary approaches that bridge law, political science, and indigenous studies, with growing emphasis on Sámi rights and Nordic exceptionalism in human rights implementation. His work combines theoretical contributions with empirical analysis of Scandinavian court systems and civil society strategies.

• Excellent Teacher award (2022)
• Editor of Nordic Journal of Human Rights (2020-present)
• Principal investigator for multiple major research grants

Professor Schaffer actively supervises doctoral students (currently two, with three previously completed), and oversees bachelor's and master's theses in areas including legal mobilization, human rights, international relations theory, democratic theory, and global governance. He leads externally funded projects including 'Land rights litigation in Sápmi: A comparative study of Sámi legal mobilization in Finland, Norway and Sweden' (Riksbankens Jubileumsfund), and previously managed projects funded by the Swedish Research Council and Research Council of Norway. As former Vice President and Director of Studies for Postgraduate Education at SGS (2022-2024), he played a key leadership role in graduate education.

His research activities involve collaboration with scholars across Scandinavia and beyond, focusing particularly on comparative Nordic studies of judicial politics and human rights implementation. His current work emphasizes indigenous rights litigation and the evolving role of courts in Scandinavian political systems.