Photo by Arvid Høidahl on Unsplash
Application link
Application open from December 1st 2025 to January 18th 2026.
Crime, Crime Control and the Making of the Nation State.
Dates: May 6–8, 2026
Venue: Fredriksten Hotel, Halden, Norway.
The relationship between crime, crime control and the nation state is complex and contingent on time and place. Within the remit of the nation state is the responsibility to protect the population against crime, and with this follows the right and obligation to control and punish the population. Balancing protection and control is part of what gives nation states their purpose and legitimacy. Current developments, however, such as the permeability of state borders under globalization, the changing nature of state power under neoliberalism, the emergence of hybrid perspectives and solutions in the nexus of control, welfare, and, security, as well as the mobile character of contemporary crime and crime policy, invites criminologists to think differently: How do these and other developments impact how we think about crime, crime control, and the making of nation states in the Nordics?
NSfK’s 64th research seminar will explore the relationship between crime, crime control and the making of the nation state, with a particular emphasis on what that entails in a Nordic context. We welcome papers that seek to further develop criminological thinking around what constitutes a particular Nordic take on crime and crime control.
We are interested in contributions that shed light on the relationship between the nation state and topics such as crime, crime policy, migration, policing and security, as well as normative alignment across the Nordic region, and policy mobility within the region but also in the form of policy export from the region and ideas about Nordic exceptionalism and crime and crime control in the context of the welfare state.
In addition to the general theme, presentations concerning other topics are also welcome, and both Nordic researchers and practitioners are encouraged to participate and present their research.
Keynote speakers
- Samuel Singler
Title: “Surveillance technologies, crimmigration control, and the boundaries of state power - Francis Pakes
Title: “Nordic Penal Exceptionalism and the winds of change.” - Kira Vrist Rønn
Title: “A Whole-of-Society Approach to Foreign Espionage: Engagement of Civil Society in Scandinavian Counterespionage.” - Sine Vorland Holen
Title: “From Crime Control to Security Governance: Expanding the Criminological Toolkit for Understanding the Nordic Nation‑State in the Age of Hybrid Threats.” - Vanessa Barker
Title: “How Liberal Democracies Bend, not Break: The Right against Rights in Sweden.”
Application
Please note that it is only possible to submit individual papers for presentation and not panels.
The application deadline is January 18 (23:59 GMT), 2026.
Reporting
After the seminar, participants are requested to share their research and papers in form of a report.
Reporting deadline: June 14, 2026.
Option 1: Submit an article
Submit an article – based on the paper presented at the seminar – for publication, preferably in one of the Nordic journals NSfK supports:
- Nordic Journal of Criminology
- Nordisk Tidskrift for Kriminalvidenskap
The submitted articles will be handled according to the journals’ ordinary review and publication processes. Those who choose this option must inform the Secretariat about your chosen journal, title and an abstract within the deadline.
Option 2: Submit a blog post
Submit a blog post at the Nordic Criminology Blog (in co-operation with Nordic Journal of Criminology).
Vi ses i Norge! See you in Norway!