Kjetil Selvik
Senior Research FellowKjetil Selvik is Senior Researcher in NUPI’s Research Group on Peace, Conflict and Development. He holds a PhD in political science from Sciences Po in Paris and works on struggles over states and regimes in the Middle East.
Selvik har previously worked as researcher at Fafo and at the Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI) and been Adjunct Associate Professor at the Department of Comparative Politics, University of Bergen, and at the Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Language, University of Oslo.
See all Selvik's publications from CMI here.
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Publication
: Academic article
The Big Man Muqtada al-Sadr: Leading the Street in Iraq under Limited Statehood
2021The article conceptualises the Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr as a big man to explain his proven capability for navigating the hazardous terrain of Iraqi politics. Introduced in Sahlins’ anthropology on Melanesia and refined in African studies, the notion of the big man has been underexploited in accounts... -
Publication
: Popular scientific article
Education as Activism in the Syrian Civil War
2021The Syrian Civil War has witnessed grassroots mobilization for education combined with agendas of political resistance. The article explains why education lends itself to activism in the face of extreme adversity. -
Publication
: Academic article
Education Activism in the Syrian Civil War:Resisting by Persisting
2021This article analyzes education activists’ resilience in emergencies, building on life story interviews with Syrians who engaged in civil society initiatives for schooling in the aftermath of the 2011 uprising. It investigates the meaning that education acquires under extreme adversity and how it inspires... -
News
How do journalists in the Middle East cope with political pressure?
03.05.2021All over the world, media-owners and lobbyists use journalists and the media as political tools for their own ends. How do journalists cope with this? A NUPI project has examined this issue in Tunisia and Lebanon. -
Publication
: Academic article
Hybrid Media and Hybrid Politics: Contesting Informational Uncertainty in Lebanon and Tunisia
2021This paper investigates the dynamic relationship between hybrid media and hybrid politics in Lebanon and Tunisia. While previous research on the media in hybrid regimes has mainly focused on regime strategies of restricting and manipulating public debate, our analysis moves beyond repression. We argue... -
Publication
: Academic article
Journalism under instrumentalized political parallelism
2021Media systems where political parallelism co-exists with political clientelism have contradictory influences on journalistic practices. Journalists are encouraged to actively defend a cause and influence public opinion while expected to remain subservient to their political masters. The media studies... -
News
NUPI replaces NRK P2's 'Ekko' this week
07.12.2020NUPI has produced ten hours of high quality radio about foreign policy and international relations. The programs will air on NRK P2 during week 50, Monday to Friday from 9.00 to 11.00. Tune in! -
News
NUPI replaces NRK P2's 'Ekko' this week
07.12.2020NUPI has produced ten hours of high quality radio about foreign policy and international relations. The programs will air on NRK P2 during week 50, Monday to Friday from 9.00 to 11.00. Tune in! -
Thu 26 Nov 2020Event
Political violence and polarization in France: the threat, the discourse and the response
Time: 09:30 Location: Microsoft TeamsSince 2015, more than 250 civilians have been killed in jihadist attacks in France. Is France particularly prone to jihadist violence, and how does terrorism affect French society and French politics?
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News
The PREVEX project officially launched in Brussels
07.02.2020Why are some communities more likely to experience violent extremism than others? -
Publication
: Academic article
Introduction
2020The special issue discusses journalism and the challenge of democracy in transitional countries in Africa. We present in-depth treatments of the role of journalism in Zimbabwe and South Africa’s break with colonialism, Somalia’s breakdown after the fall of Siad Barré in the early 1990s and the recent... -
Publication
: Academic article
Debating terrorism in a political transition: Journalism and democracy in Tunisia
2020In March 2015, in the midst of a political transition, Tunisia was rocked by a terrorist attack at the Bardo Museum in downtown Tunis in which 21 people were killed. How did Tunisian journalists manage the tension between a heightened sense of insecurity and the country’s uncertain democratic development?... -
News
Drivers of violent extremism: NUPI to coordinate EU-funded project
19.12.2019PREVEX will shed light on how the various drivers of violent extremism operate. -
News
Drivers of violent extremism: NUPI to coordinate EU-funded project
19.12.2019PREVEX will shed light on how the various drivers of violent extremism operate. -
Publication
: Report
Religious authority and the 2018 parliamentary elections in Iraq
2019This research brief analyzes the discursive production of, and political struggle over, religious authority in Shia Iraq. It examines Friday sermons held in the run-up to the May 2018 parliamentary elections. -
Research project
Preventing Violent Extremism in the Balkans and the MENA: Strengthening Resilience in Enabling Environments (PREVEX)
2020 - 2023 (Ongoing)The overarching objective of PREVEX is to put forward more fine-tuned and effective approaches to preventing violent extremism.
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Thu 12 Dec 2019Event
Breakfast seminar: Street versus system – the protest wave in the Middle East
Time: 09:00 Location: NUPIOver the past months, popular protests have shaken the rulers of Algeria, Lebanon, Iran and Iraq. In this breakfast seminar, NUPI researchers discuss the nature of the protests and the prospects for change.
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Publication
: ARTIKKEL
Elite Survival and the Arab Spring: The Cases of Tunisia and Egypt
2019The article compares the survival of old regime elites in Tunisia and Egypt after the 2011 uprisings and analyses its enabling factors. Although democracy progressed in Tunisia and collapsed in Egypt, the countries show similarities in the old elite’s ability to survive the Arab Spring. In both cases,... -
News
How do Islamist movements relate to the modern state?
28.06.2019The first research notes from the HYRES project are out, analyzing several very timely questions related to Islamist movements in Mali, Iraq, Libya and Lebanon. -
Wed 26 Jun 2019Event
Turkey’s Syria policy and the refugee question
Time: 10:00 Location: NUPIHow is Turkey’s foreign policy shaped in the new presidential system? And how is Turkey’s Syria policy influenced by and influencing the refugee crisis?