Diversity just for show?
The level of diversification among justices of the Norwegian Supreme Court has been mapped by professors William Shaffer, Erik Waltenburg (Purdue University) and Gunnar Grendstad, professor at The Department of Comparative Politics.
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In a paper recently published in the Scandinavian law journal Retfærd, Shaffer, Waltenburg and Grendstad have developed a fractionalisation index for The Supreme Court, based on five diversification factors. In the paper, the Supreme Court fractionalisation is presented for every year since 1945.
The paper also presents some explanations for the diversification trends, suggesting the deeply embedded, long-term social change is at the heart of the increasing diversification of the court.
The paper is published in Retfærd, 2015,volume 38, #1/148. Please contact one of the authors for a copy.
