Researcher
Ole Jacob Sending
Contactinfo and files
Summary
Ole Jacob Sending is Research Professor in the Research group for global order and diplomacy at NUPI.
Sending does research on global governance, with a particular focus on the role of international and non-governmental organizations in peacebuilding, humanitarian relief, and development. His publications have appeared, inter alia, in International Studies Quarterly, European Journal of International Relations, and International Theory.
Expertise
Education
2004 Dr. Polit., Department of Administration and Organization Theory, University of Bergen
1998 Master of Science, Political Science. Department of Political Science, SUNY, Albany, New York
1997 Cand. Mag., University of Bergen, Norway. (Economics, Political Science, Sociology)
Work Experience
2023- Research Professor, NUPI
2012-2023 Research Director, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI)
2008-2009 Visiting Scholar, Fulbright Scholarship, Dept. of Sociology, UC Berkeley
2008- Senior Researcher, NUPI
2008-2014 Adjunct Senior Researcher, Chr. Michelsen Institute, Bergen
2006-2008 Senior Adviser, Policy Analysis Unit, Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway
2003- Senior Researcher, NUPI
2002 Visiting Research Fellow, Stanford University (SCANCOR)
1999-2003 Research Fellow, NUPI, PhD Student, University of Bergen
Aktivitet
Filter
Clear all filtersIntroduction: Making liberal internationalism great again?
At a time when liberal internationalism and institutions of multilateral cooperation are being dealt almost daily blows, this special issue revisits the notion and practice of middle power liberal internationalism. The introduction suggests that while liberal internationalism is far from dead, the challenges are serious and multiple. Reflecting on the seven essays contained in the volume, it argues that the biggest challenge for a future liberal internationalism is not to double-down on its normative virtues, but critically to reflect on how it can be retooled to respond to new challenges.
The Nordics and the International
Why is there not more Nordic cooperation on the international arena, when Nordic politicians so often express a willingness to develop cooperation in this field further? This project aims to build new...
Norway and New Zealand - common challenges, common solutions?
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs in New Zealand, Rt. Hon Winston Peters, visits NUPI on 24 April.
Digital sovereignty and autonomy (GAIA)
NUPI in collaboration with Simula Research Lab will map global data flows and their impact on national autonomy and sovereignty....
Norden i verden
(Only in Norwegian). Hver for seg er de nordiske landene relativt små, men sammen er de på størrelse med en stormakt. Og med en verdenspolitikk i endring er samarbeidet mellom disse statene enda viktigere enn på lenge.
States before relations: On misrecognition and the bifurcated regime of sovereignty
The symbolic structure of the international system, organised around sovereignty, is sustained by an institutional infrastructure that shapes how states seek sovereign agency. We investigate how the modern legal category of the state is an institutional expression of the idea of the state as a liberal person, dependent on a one-off recognition in establishing the sovereign state. We then discuss how this institutional rule co-exists with the on-going frustrated search for recognition in terms of socio-political registers. While the first set of rules establishes a protective shield against others, regardless of behaviour, the second set of rules specify rules for behaviour of statehood, which produces a distinct form of misrecognition. States are, at one level, already recognised as sovereign and are granted rights akin to individuals in liberal thought, and yet they are continually misrecognised in their quest to actualise the sovereign agency they associate with statehood. We draw on examples from two contemporary phenomena - fragile states, and assertions of non-interference and sovereignty from the populist right and non-Western great powers, to discuss the misrecognition processes embedded in the bifurcated symbolic structure of sovereignty, and its implications for debates about hierarchy and sovereignty in world affairs.
Frustrated Sovereigns: The agency that makes the world go around
In this special issue we build on the growing interest in recognition to suggest that a shift from recognition to misrecognition open up new theoretical perspectives. Our point of departure is that failure – not obtaining the recognition one seeks – is built into the very desire for recognition. Thus understood, the desire for recognition is not simply a desire for social goods, for status or for statehood, but for agency. This, we suggest, is Hegel’s fundamental lesson. On this basis, we argue that the international system is defined by a symbolic structure organised around an always unrealisable ideal of sovereign agency. We discuss the implications of such a focus on the workings of misrecognition and the ideal of sovereign agency, and introduce the key themes – focused on failure and the negative, the striving for unity and actorhood, and sovereignty and the international system – that the contributors address in their respective articles.
Theory Seminar: The prospects for Chinese leadership in an age of upheaval
Srdjan Vucetic will discuss his latest paper on China’s possibilities in a time where the relationship between the West and USA is more uncertain than before.
Theory Seminar: Why weak states persist and alternatives to the state fade away
Arjun Chowdhury visits NUPI to discuss his new book “The Myth of International Order: Why weak states persist and alternatives to the state fade away”.
Nordiske svar på geopolitiske utfordringer
(Available in Norwegian only): Ukens analyse er skrevet av seniorforsker Kristin Haugevik og forskningssjef Ole Jacob Sending, begge ved Norsk utenrikspolitisk institutt (NUPI). De skriver om hvordan de fem nordiske landene responderer på omveltningene i internasjonal politikk.