Halvard Leira
Research ProfessorHalvard Leira’s main areas of research is foreign policy and diplomacy, with a special emphasis on the Norwegian varieties. He also has a long-standing research interest in historical international relations, and international thought. Leira completed his PhD thesis in May 2011, titled «The Emergence of Foreign Policy: Knowledge, Discourse, History».
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Publication
: Academic lecture
Making foreign policy foreign
Building on earlier work, I delve into the translations of “foreign policy” and the potential challenges following from these translations. I start with a section on how something conceptualizable as “foreign policy” first emerged. Then I discuss at an overarching level how this something was translated.... -
Mon 4 Nov 2019Event
How do revolutions begin, unfold and end?
Time: 13:15 Location: NUPITo mark the establishment of the Centre of Historical International Politics (CHIP) at NUPI, we have the pleasure of inviting you to a talk with Dr George Lawson on ‘Anatomies of revolution’.
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Publication
: Academic lecture
A Conceptual History of International Relations
In this lecture, I discussed why we need a conceptual history of international relations, and how we can go about writing it. -
Publication
: ARTIKKEL
Ethnic Diversity in the Recruitment of Diplomats: Why MFAs Take the Issue Seriously
2019Diversity and its management have become an issue in all organisations. Ministries of foreign affairs (MFAs) do not escape the issue. In the 2000s, states decided to consider more ethnic diversity in the recruitment of their diplomats. In some countries, this new goal requires affirmative action programs.... -
Publication
: Del av bok/rapport
Stubbornly Stumbling into Making History: Constructivism and Historical International Relations
The aim of this chapter is threefold; first we try to recollect through the hazy dim of personal history and histories how we eventually became the researchers we are today. Second, we focus on what to us at the time – and, to some extent, still – appeared as contingent, random and haphazard experiences... -
Publication
: ANTOLOGI
The Duty of Care in International Relations Protecting Citizens Beyond the Border
2019This book offers a first overarching look at the relationship between states and their citizens abroad, approached through the concept 'Duty of Care'. How can society best be protected, when increasing numbers of citizens are found outside the borders of the state? What are the limits to care... -
Publication
: Del av bok/rapport
Introduction: The Duty of Care in International Relations
2019In this introduction, we lay out the premises, logics and content of the book in more detail. In the next section, we introduce a varied set of current international challenges concerning the relationship between states and citizens. In the third section, we present the historical background for why... -
Research project
A Conceptual History of International Relations (CHOIR)
2019 - 2023 (Ongoing)The purpose of CHOIR is to investigate taken-for-granted concepts of international relations.
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Publication
: ARTIKKEL
The emergence of foreign policy
2019International relations scholarship typically treats foreign policy as a taken-for-granted analytical concept. It assumes either that all historical polities have foreign policies or that foreign policy originates in seventeenth-century Europe with the separation between the “inside” and “outside” of... -
News
What does foreign policy really mean?
07.12.2018This, with other widely used IR concepts, is what Halvard Leira and his project CHOIR team have received funding to explore. -
Thu 18 Oct 2018Event
Protecting citizens abroad – who is responsible when crisis hits, and at what costs?
Time: 13:00 Location: NUPIWho is responsible when Norwegians are in trouble abroad, such as Frode Berg in Russia or French and Moland in DR Congo, or in case of natural disasters and terrorist attacks?
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Publication
: Del av bok/rapport
Kinship diplomacy, or diplomats of a kin
2018Familiarity breeds contempt, or so the idiom goes, and historically there are ample examples of how family-ties and blood kinship have not fostered peaceful cooperation. By contrast, metaphorical kinship has been seen to grease the wheels of diplomacy, creating and sustaining ties between different polities... -
Publication
: Del av bok/rapport
The Function of Myths in International Relations: Discipline and Identity
Myths, understood as forms of narrative, providing meaning and significance, are an inescapable part of the life of human collectives. Thus, myths are central to any academic discipline. They tell us who we are and what we should be concerned with, and provide blueprints for arguments about policy choices.... -
Publication
: ARTIKKEL
Utenrikspolitikk - en begrepshistorie
2018(Available in Norwegian only): Artikkelen tar opp spørsmålet om når Norge fikk en egen utenrikspolitikk, og gir svar gjennom en begrepshistorisk analyse. Tidligere forslag har vært middelalderen, med etableringen av relasjoner mellom norske konger og andre konger, slutten av 1700-tallet, med etableringen... -
Fri 4 May 2018Event
Theory Seminar: The Territorialization of Cybersecurity
Time: 13:15 Location: NUPIDr Jordan Branch visits NUPI to talk about the tension between territorial and non-territorial aspects of cyber security.
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Publication
: Del av bok/rapport
New Diplomacy
2018New diplomacy is a term which has been used both politically and analytically since the French Revolution. It was introduced as a positive contrast to the old diplomacy of kings and intrigues, and was concerned primarily with trade. Such a liberal understanding has remained predominant – new diplomacy... -
Publication
: Del av bok/rapport
Old diplomacy
2018Old diplomacy is a term which has been used both politically and analytically since the French Revolution. Politically, it emerged as a term of abuse, used to criticize all which had been wrong with interstate interaction before 1789, in particular secrecy, duplicity, and the reliance on aristocracy.... -
News
Today’s Status Seekers
20.02.2018Hanging out with the cool guys is just as important as ever. -
Publication
: ARTIKKEL
Moral authority and status in International Relations: Good states and the social dimension of status seeking
We develop scholarship on status in international politics by focusing on the social dimension of small and middle power status politics. This vantage opens a new window on the widely-discussed strategies social actors may use to maintain and enhance their status, showing how social creativity, mobility,...