Researcher
Halvard Leira
Contactinfo and files
Summary
Halvard 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».
Expertise
Education
2011 PhD, Political Science, University of Oslo
2002 Cand. Polit., Political Science, Department of political Science, University of Oslo
Work Experience
2003- Research Fellow/Phd-candidate/Senior Research Fellow/Research Professor, NUPI
Aktivitet
Filter
Clear all filtersNew Diplomacy
New 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 has typically been associated with democratic control over diplomacy, international organization, and free trade, and with openness and honesty in diplomatic practice. An alternative radical interpretation, where new diplomacy implied the complete overthrow of the old, can trace its roots to the French Revolution, and was expressed fully during the Russian Revolution. Although new diplomacy has also been used as a term of abuse by those who prefer traditional forms of diplomacy, the term has primarily signified an ongoing or desired change in a positive direction. Currently, it is being used as a label for most of the non‐state‐centric diplomacy.
Old diplomacy
Old 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. Thus, it was often contrasted with a desired new diplomacy. Political versions of the term have persisted until the present day, although the target changed. A particular spike in criticism happened in 1918–20, when old diplomacy was blamed for the outbreak of the Great War. Analytically, old diplomacy has been used to refer more neutrally to earlier forms of diplomacy. This usage emerged in the nineteenth century, but has been more prevalent from the middle of the twentieth century.
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, and competition can all be system-supporting under some conditions. We extract lessons for other thorny issues in status research, notably questions concerning when, if ever, status is a good in itself; whether it must be a positional good; and how states measure it.
Caring and Carers: Diplomatic Personnel and the Duty of Care
This article deals with the duty of care that states hold in relation to their citizens abroad — more specifically, the double role of diplomatic personnel, as both providers and recipients of care. The focus of discussion is states’ duty of care for diplomatic personnel, raising questions of how this care can be balanced with the duty of care for citizens and how far this duty stretches. The article first emphasizes the threats, before focusing on the means of protection: evacuation; physical structures; and psychological care. A tension remains, for as states fulfil their duty of care towards personnel through increasing security, they might at the same time reduce their personnel’s capacity to provide care for citizens. One solution for this tension — outsourcing and local personnel — tests the limits of care.
The Making of a Classic: On Diplomacy 30 Years On.
In this article, Halvard Leira makes the case for On Diplomacy (published in 1987) being a classic in the making of International Relations, and engages the central notion of diplomacy understood as "the mediation of estrangement".
Norsk språk taper
(Available in Norwegian only): Hvis vi fortsatt vil ha forskning på norsk om Norge, trenger vi en ny kurs i forskningspolitikken, skriver kronikkforfatterne.
Empires, Privateering and the sea (EMPRISE)
EMPRISE studies the role of the importance of power at sea for the formation of empires and states from 1500-1856....
Political change and historical analogies
This article deals with how scholars, policy analysts and activists, striving to make sense of current political change, have turned to history for analogies and ideas for action. While it is encouraging to see the Trump presidency and other instances of upheaval leading to a strengthened interest in history, in academe and public life more generally, there nevertheless is a need to caution against facile appropriations of the historical record and the use of superficial similarity to legitimize political action. I discuss ways of historicizing the present, through some examples of historical analogies applied to the first months of the Trump presidency and other relatively current instances of change. I start with a discussion of historical analogies and concepts, stressing how they can be understood as both first order and second order constructs. Then I discuss the current usage of historical analogies and concepts as both first order and second order constructs, before I conclude.
Beskyttelsesplikt over alle grenser?
(Norwegian only): This article deals with the «duty of care» held by states for their citizens, when the citizens are abroad. The arguments are based on general developmental traits common to modern states, but the main case is the relationship between the Norwegian state and its citizens. The article raises two main questions, firstly how it became self-evident that the state has a duty of care for its citizens abroad, secondly under what circumstances and in which ways this duty is articulated and put on the political agenda. The first question is answered through an historical and comparative analysis, emphasizing how ties of loyalty between states and citizens developed, and how the legitimacy of modern welfare-states became tied to the will and capacity of states to care for its citizens. The second question is answered through an analysis of a number of fairly recent «crises». Here, special attention is paid to how the media are central to the articulation of crisis, how there is a growing need for the government to act rapidly and visibly in the face of crisis and the tension between the need to demonstrate strength in the face of crisis and the desire that citizens should take greater responsibility for themselves when traveling abroad.
Diplomatiminister Brende
Denne artikkelen diskuterer Børge Brendes virke som diplomatiminister.