Benjamin de Carvalho

- bdc@nupi.no
- +(47) 414 29 826
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Benjamin de Carvalho is a research professor at NUPI, working in the Research group on Global Order and Diplomacy (GOaD). His research interests have, broadly speaking, been between three areas: (i) historical international relations, (ii) UN peacekeeping, and (iii) status in international relations.
Within these fields, he has published on issues of broader historical change such as the formation of the nation-state in Europe, sovereignty, and the role played by confessionalization and religion. He has also been involved in a number of projects on UN peacekeeping, and has worked on the protection of civilians and sexual and gender-based violence in Liberia, Chad, and the Sudans. He is also involved in projects addressing status as a key driver of foreign policy, focusing on Norway and Brazil. Central issues here are the role played by small states in international politics, emerging powers and great power responsibility. Other research interests include hegemony, popular culture and international relations theory.
De Carvalho is currently involved in work of more historical character. He is currently the Principal Investigator of Empires, Privateering and the Sea (EMPRISE), a project funded by the Research Council of Norway addressing the importance of privateering for the formation of overseas empires in the Atlantic (1556-1856). He is also the main collaborator in Conceptual History of International Relations (CHOIR), led by Halvard Leira.
In addition, de Carvalho has played an important role in the institutionalization of Historical International Relations as a subfield of the discipline of International Relations. Together with Leira, he was instrumental in setting up the Historical International Relations Section of the ISA, of which he has served as section program chair (2015-2017) and section chair (2017-2019). Leira and de Carvalho are also co-editors of the four-volume set Historical International Relations.
He is formerly a co-editor of the leading Scandinavian-language International Relations-journal Internasjonal Politikk.
Education
2009 PhD in International Studies, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
2001 MA, New School for Social Research, New York, USA
Work Experience
2006- PhD student/Senior Research Fellow/Research Professor, NUPI
Publications All publications
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Digital Sovereignty
Publication : Policy Brief | 2022Digital sovereignty is a relative newcomer, in spite of having become relatively well-entrenched in current policy discourses. In fact, as attacks on1
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The Intercity Origins of Diplomacy: Consuls, Empires, and the Sea
Publication : Academic article | 2021City diplomacy is a fairly new topic in the study of diplomacy, and, many would argue, a fairly recent empirical phenomenon. A counterpoint to this c1
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Hva er Internasjonal Politikk
Publication : Academic monograph | 2020The term international politics is used both for events and processes in the world around us - and for the study of these. The subject covers obvious1
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Stubbornly Stumbling into Making History: Constructivism and Historical International Relations
Publication | 2019The 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 r1
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Forum: In the beginning there was no word (For It): Terms, concepts, and early sovereignty
Publication : ARTIKKEL | 2018It is difficult to overstate the importance of the concept sovereignty for international relations (IR). And yet, understanding the historical emerge1
Projects All projects
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A Conceptual History of International Relations (CHOIR)
Research project | 2019 - 2023 (Ongoing)The purpose of CHOIR is to investigate taken-for-granted concepts of international relations. ...
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Empires, Privateering and the sea (EMPRISE)
Research project | 2017 - 2022 (Ongoing)EMPRISE studies the role of the importance of power at sea for the formation of empires and states from 1500-1856....
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Instruments of State Power: History and Theory (ISPO)
Research project | 2017 - 2018 (Completed)The ISPO Workshop Series will develop new and innovative analytical tools and vocabularies to help understand current developments in global politics. ...
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Protection of Civilians. From Principle to Practice (PoC)
Research project | 2012 - 2016 (Completed)Protection of Civilians: From Principle to Practice...
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Historical International Relations (HIST)
Research project
Events All events
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“Thinking about Unthinkability in World Politics” with Jennifer Mitzen
EventTue 14 Jun 2022Time: 14:15 Europe/Oslo | Location: NUPIThe NUPI Center for Historical International Politics (CHIP) invites you to a seminar where Prof. Jennifer Mitzen (Ohio State University) will present work in progress for her next book, “Thinking about Unthinkability in World Politics”.
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England's Cross of Gold: Keynes, Churchill, and the Governance of Economic Beliefs
EventFri 20 May 2022Time: 13:15 Europe/Oslo | Location: NUPIThe NUPI Center for Historical International Politics (CHIP) invites you to a seminar where Dr James Ashley Morrison (LSE) will present his latest book, " England's Cross of Gold: Keynes, Churchill, and the Governance of Economic Beliefs."
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Theory seminar: Sonic IR
EventSun 2 Jun 2019Time: 13:15 Europe/Oslo | Location: NUPIWhat role does sound have in the field of IR studies?
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Theory Seminar: Political Memory and State Power – Holocaust Remembrance after Communism
EventThu 24 Jan 2019Time: 13:15 Europe/Oslo | Location: NUPIJelena Subotic will talk about her project that investigates the strength and limits of state power in regulating contested political memory.
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Theory Seminar: “War in International Thought”
EventMon 29 Jan 2018Time: 13:15 Europe/Oslo | Location: NUPIProfessor Jens Bartelson will talk about his latest book on how we have perceived war throughout centuries.
Articles All articles
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NUPI team to take over as editors of the prestigious journal Cooperation and Conflict
12 May 2023“Our aim is to consolidate Cooperation and Conflict as a platform for IR scholarship that is theoretically innovative, methodologically pluralist, em1
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Global Order and Diplomacy
3 Jan 2022In what ways are the structures and contents of world politics changing? How do global power dynamics influence states’ foreign policy – and vice ver1