About the publication
The chapter is published in the book Nordic Criminal Justice in a Global Context: Practices and Promotion of Exceptionalism.
In the chapter, Lohne argues that Nordic penal exceptionalism has become part of a politics of branding the Nordics as particularly good punishers – both by competence and virtue – and as such, of particular value for international export.
Following a contextualization of Nordic penal exceptionalism and Norway’s engagement with international criminal justice, the chapter proposes three incremental processes through which Norway’s positioning as ‘good punishers’ can be understood.
To conceptualize how Norway positions itself in the international order based on a claim to moral authority, the first section introduces status-building theories in international relations.
Second, the image of Nordic penal exceptionalism is connected with other Nordic ‘brands’ in Norway’s foreign policy. Lohne conceptualizes this process as brand alignment, in which incremental moral authority across transnational fields are claimed by Norway in its foreign policy engagements.
Third, she draws on the notion of penal humanitarianism to describe how humanitarian logics are put to use in moving criminal justice beyond the territorially bounded nation-state. As such, the chapter sets out an interpretation of Nordic criminal justice as a form of Nordic penal humanitarianism, which enables penal power to be put to use as a form of soft power and positioning in international relations.
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- To order the book, please visit the website of Routledge.