Kjetil Selvik
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Kjetil Selvik was a Research Professor at NUPI and Head of NUPI’s Research Group on Peace, Conflict and Development until 2024.
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Clear all filtersJournalism in the Grey Zone: Pluralism and Media Capture in Lebanon and Tunisia
Lebanon and Tunisia are two of the freest countries in the Middle East and North Africa, but elites in both countries seek to manipulate media organisations and individual journalists to shore up support for themselves and attack opponents. This book explores the political role of journalism in these hybrid settings where democratic and authoritarian practices coexist – a growing trend all over the world. Through interviews with journalists in different positions and analyses of key events in recent years, Journalism in the Grey Zone explains the tensions that media instrumentalisation creates in the news media and how journalists navigate conflicting pressures from powerholders and a marginalised populace. Despite ‘capture’ of the media by political and economic actors, journalism remains a powerful and occasionally disruptive force.
Free, but manipulated? Journalism and politics in Tunisia’s fall from democracy
Tunisia was the only country that started developing as a democracy after the Arab Spring. Several important institutions were established to safeguard a democratic development, not least freedom of speech and free media. Today, however, the country is sliding towards authoritarianism. What happened, and what is the role of the media and journalism in Tunisia's withering democracy?
On digital media in Lebanon's political crisis
The technology-driven transformation of the media environment is changing politics worldwide. Yet everywhere is not the same. The digital revolution yields different results in different political contexts. This policy brief analyses digital media’s role in the political crisis unfolding in Lebanon – a weak, divided and contested state. It discusses the implications for Norwegian development aid to the country. Part 3 of 4 in the series: Digital technology and international politics
Ali Hosseini Khamenei: Routinizing Revolution in Iran
This chapter analyzes how Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei consolidated his rule and the political consequences of his survival strategy. The author argues that Iran’s long-serving leader capitalized on the institutional and ideological legacies of his predecessor, Ayatollah Khomeini, as well as on the high potential for repression in revolutionary regimes. Khamenei has invested in nonelected and parallel revolutionary bodies, maintained strong emphasis on the Islamic Revolution’s ideology and recruited a new generation of followers to the ruling coalition. This essay outlines the tensions arising from Khamenei’s reliance on the organizational structures, aims, and elite selection mechanisms of the revolution and the wish of the Iranian population to change the political course of this important Middle Eastern country.
The Big Man Muqtada al-Sadr: Leading the Street in Iraq under Limited Statehood
The 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 of the Arab region. This article defends its relevance for sociopolitical analyses of Iraq and for the study of religious actors. Personal authority is the defining characteristic of a big man, and the mobilisation of followers is the key to his renown. In situations of limited statehood, the ability to build support upon extra-institutional foundations can yield longlasting political results. Muqtada al-Sadr has relied on an exceptional combination of resources to establish himself as a kingmaker on the political scene. We trace the roots of his ascent and foreground the strategies he has used to accumulate authority in his person. The article analyses Muqtada’s response to the wave of popular protests that swept Southern Iraq in 2019, observing a shift from initial support to open confrontation with the demonstrators. We argue that this shift threatens his status because it undermines his most important power resource: the ability to lead the street.
Education as Activism in the Syrian Civil War
The 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.
Education Activism in the Syrian Civil War:Resisting by Persisting
This 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 individuals to act. Finding that these activists think of education as a means to resist authoritarianism and transform society, the article brings the change agendas of local education actors to the fore. It concludes that resilience can be the extension of political purpose. The article conceptualizes education as a vehicle of resistance, foregrounding how temporal projections enable individuals to maintain belief in their capability to enact changes. The activists make connections between their own experiences in school, thoughts about the future, and the reasons they mobilize for education. Working with time is a potent enabler when, objectively, the situation is deteriorating.
Humanitarian aid in Syria: The role of the UN and the great powers
What are the humanitarian needs of the Syrian people now? And how can the international community best help?
Hybrid Media and Hybrid Politics: Contesting Informational Uncertainty in Lebanon and Tunisia
This 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 that the ambiguities of hybrid politics, which combines democratic and authoritarian elements, not only constrain independent and critical reporting but also open up opportunities for journalistic agencies. We draw on Schedler’s concept of informational uncertainty to capture the epistemological instability of hybrid regimes and the strategies of political actors to control public knowledge. Distinguishing between three dimensions of media hybridity - economic, cultural and technological - we show how the new hybrid media environment significantly increases the volatility of hybrid politics and informational uncertainty for political actors. Our empirical analysis is based on seventy-one semistructured interviews with journalists in Lebanon and Tunisia conducted between 2016 and 2019. The material reveals a broad range of strategies used by journalists who employ the internal contradictions of hybrid politics to pursue their own agenda. The comparison between Lebanon and Tunisia also highlights contextual conditions that enable, or limit, journalistic agency, such as clientelistic dependencies, economic resources, and civil society alliances.