Rune Slagstad (born 22 February 1945) is a Norwegian historian, philosopher, legal theorist, professor and journal editor. In addition to professional work, he has since the late 1960s contributed actively to public debate on a variety of issues from Norway.
He initiated and co-edited the encyclopediaPaxLeksikon (with i.a. Hans Fredrik Dahl and Jon Elster),[1] co-edited the leftist journal Kontrast, and was editor-in-chief of the intellectual journal Nytt Norsk Tidsskrift[2] from 1984 through 2009. Among his significant publications are the books Constitutionalism and democracy (co-edited with Jon Elster), De nasjonale strateger (”National strategists”),[3]Rettens ironi (”The Irony of Law”)[4] and Sporten: en idéhistorisk studie (”Sports”),[5] a study of sports from a cultural historical point of view.
From 2009 to 2013, Slagstad held a professorship at the Centre for the Study of Professions at Oslo University College. He is currently at The Institute for Social Research working on a study of Scandinavian social-democratic sittlichkeit.
Slagstad was born and raised in Bergen, but now lives in Oslo with his wife Anine Kierulf. He has three children.