The Rebalance to Asia Under Trump
Attempts to predict the future shape of President Donald Trump’s defence policy in the Asia-Pacific are a challenge, at best. Nevertheless, Patrick Cullen argues that, in contrast to early assumptions that he would initiate a more isolationist defence policy and break with the previous administration’s Rebalance to Asia policy, Trump is more likely to adopt a hawkish – if unpredictable – enforcement of the policy’s key defence objectives. Gauging whether the Trump administration will bring either change from, or continuity with, the military component of the Rebalance to Asia policy will require keeping an eye on each of the policy’s subcategories.
Commentary: Neighbors in a changed terrain
Forrige uke publiserte regjeringen et nytt strategidokument for nordområdene. Denne kommentaren tar for seg noen av de viktigste temaene på det internasjonale feltet i strategien.
Montenegros integrasjon til EU og NATO i utfordrande tider
Montenegro er i ferd med å bli NATOs 29. medlem, og er dermed det første landet frå Vest-Balkan sidan Kroatia blei medlem i 2009. I samband med dette kjem Montenegros europaminister for å dele sitt syn på situasjonen.
Lunsjseminar: Al-Qaida i Afghanistan - eit alternativt perspektiv
Konsortium for forsking på terrorisme og internasjonal kriminalitet har gleda av å ønskje Anne Stenersen velkommen for å snakke om den nye boka si som gir eit anna perspektiv på al-Qaida.
EUs globale strategi i ei endra verd
Det har skjedd store endringar i Europa og resten av verda i løpet av det siste året. Korleis påverkar dette EUs globale strategi?
Political change and historical analogies
This article deals with how scholars, policy analysts and activists, striving to make sense of current political change, have turned to history for analogies and ideas for action. While it is encouraging to see the Trump presidency and other instances of upheaval leading to a strengthened interest in history, in academe and public life more generally, there nevertheless is a need to caution against facile appropriations of the historical record and the use of superficial similarity to legitimize political action. I discuss ways of historicizing the present, through some examples of historical analogies applied to the first months of the Trump presidency and other relatively current instances of change. I start with a discussion of historical analogies and concepts, stressing how they can be understood as both first order and second order constructs. Then I discuss the current usage of historical analogies and concepts as both first order and second order constructs, before I conclude.
Iceland’s Relations with its Regional Powers: Alignment with the EU-US sanctions on Russia
The paper examines the Icelandic government’s consideration to withdraw its support for the sanctions against Russia over Ukraine in 2015. The consideration came as a surprise to many since Iceland in the past has habitually aligned itself closely with the United States and the European Union in such matters. The Icelandic fishing industry lobbied hard for the sanctions to be lifted to avoid Russian counter-sanctions on Iceland. After considerable internal debate, the government decided to uphold the sanctions, but settled on a policy of not taking part in EU´s foreign policy declarations about the sanctions. This move is interesting given Iceland’s traditional positioning between two gravitational centres in world politics: the EU and the US. The paper discusses what this case tells us about Icelandic policymakers’ room for maneuvering in the formulation and enactment of its foreign policy, and about Iceland’s foreign policy bonds to the US and the EU.