Une volonté partagée de façonner un nouvel ordre mondial
(Kun tilgjengelig på fransk): In the West, the rise of nationalist populism reached a tipping point in 2016 when it generated both the UK vote for Brexit and the election of President Trump in the US. In contrast, over the same period, the BRICS have invested in strengthening inter-BRICS cooperation and the group’s commitment to the United Nations, global governance and economic globalisation. Their primary focus has been on financial, trade and economic cooperation. However, their ability to develop a shared analysis of the political and security dimensions of the global order seems to have come to a turning point in 2017, when they opted to focus their annual Summit on developing strategies to defend global governance, economic globalisation, free trade, and joint action on climate. How did we get to the point where it seems to be up to the BRICS to rescue globalisation ?
Outsidership and the European Neighbourhood Policy. The case of Norway
This paper examines how and to what extent Norway adapts to and is affected by the European Union’s policy towards its neighbours in the East. In line with the overall topic of the special issue, it investigates how Norway handles its ‘outsidership’ when formulating its policies towards Union’s Eastern partner countries that have signed Association Agreements with the EU (Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova). While Norway is not an EU member, it is still highly integrated in to most of the Union’s policy areas. It even has the habit of signing up to most of the EU’s declarations on foreign policy. However, the European Neighbourhood Policy is one of the policy areas where Norway is not participating. This means that it has the liberty to choose a different approach than the EU in its bilateral relations with these countries. Thus, this paper investigates what kind of balance Norway seeks between autonomy and integration in relation to the ENP partner countries. As this article shows, Norway seem to align itself to the policies of the EU also in this area, sometimes even without the Norwegian officials being fully aware of the extent to which this is happening.
Nepal: A Political Economy Analysis
This report is an integrated political economy analysis of Nepal. The main finding is that economic growth and poverty reduction have been steady in Nepal since the mid-1980s independently of a number of political upheavals, including ten years of civil war. The growth has been driven by remittances and an upward pressure on wages in local labor markets. As a result, poverty has declined and social indicators have improved. Despite the availability of private capital and increases in wages for the poor, there is still a massive need for public investments in infrastructure, agriculture, health, and education. In the political domain the recent local elections will reintroduce local democracy after 20 years. Elected local politicians are expected to boost local development efforts. The leading political forces in Nepal are the political parties. There are close links between politicians and business leaders, the political parties control the trade-unions, have links to civil society organizations, and the parties select high-level government officials. The civil war and the post-war ethnic uprising led to demands for an ethnic based federal republic. A compromise federal map was decided in 2015, with provincial elections scheduled for the fall of 2017. There are concerns that the ethnic agenda may escalate ethnic conflicts, and it will be essential for all parties to work for participation of all social groups within the recently established local units, as well as in the economy at large.