Researcher
Julie Wilhelmsen
Contactinfo and files
Summary
Julie Wilhelmsen is Research Professor and Head of the Research group for Russia, Asia and International Trade at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. She holds a PhD in political science and conducts research in the fields of critical security studies, Russian foreign and security policies and the radicalization of Islam in Eurasia.
The two post-soviet Chechen wars have been a constant focus in her research and she is also heads projects related to conflict resolution in the North Caucasus. From 2012 to 2016 she was the editor of the Scandinavian-language journal Internasjonal Politikk, and has a wide outreach to the Norwegian public on issues related to Russia and Eurasia through frequent public talks and media comments. In 2019 – 2021 Wilhelmsen is an expert in the Cooperative Security Initiative (CSI), an initiative which is designed to generate ideas and shift momentum in favor of cooperative security and multilateralism through the OSCE in order to build a safer Europe.
Expertise
Education
2014 Ph.D in Political Science, University of Oslo. Areas of specialisation: Russian Politics, Critical Security Studies, Discourse Analysis
1999 Cand.Polit. (Political Science), University of Oslo
1996 Master of Science in Russian and Post-Soviet Studies, London School of Economics and Political Science
1995 Mellomfag in Political Science, University of Oslo
1994 Mellomfag in Russian, University of Oslo
Work Experience
2025- Head of the Research group on Russia, Asia and International Trade
2022- Research professor
2022 Head of the Research group on Russia, Asia and International Trade
2014-2022 Senior Researcher, NUPI
2003-2014 Researcher, Centre for Russian Studies, NUPI
2001-2003 Researcher and Project manager, Norwegian Defence Reseach Establishment
1999-2001 Higher executive officer, Norwegian Directorate of Immigration
Aktivitet
Filter
Clear all filtersRussia’s view of Georgia: a NATO proxy yet again?
After the crises in Ukraine, and despite the Georgian government’s allegedly more pragmatic attitude towards Russia, official statements from Moscow increasingly project Georgia as hostile. This may be the result of the Kremlin stepping up a propaganda campaign to put pressure on Georgia, but it is also linked to growing perceptions of Georgia as becoming an agent of NATO. Moreover, Russia’s increasingly insistent rhetorical and practical support for the independent status of the two Georgian breakaway republics, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, is still framed with reference to Kosovo as a tit-for-tat in a conflict with the West. In parallel with this hardening in Russian views, there is hardly any diplomatic contact between Russia and Georgia. The regional multilateral frameworks have become dysfunctional, obstructed by polarization. Further Georgian NATO integration could entail an increasing risk of war, unless frank discussions and engagement with Russia can be promoted.
Russlands forhold til og interesser i Hviterussland
Lecture to the Norwegian Parliament on Russia's relations to Belarus and what strategy the Kremlin might opt for as the crises evolves
Relations between Russia and Norway: Spiraling towards a new Cold War?
Lecture on how official rhetoric shapes and conditions the space for manoeuvre between two collective political entities. Using the examples of Norway and Russia in the period 2014-2019, I presented how the way in which political leaders talk about each other can contribute to conflict escalation.
"The Russian Understanding of War: Blurring the Lines between War and Peace"
The Russian Understanding of War: Blurring the Lines between War and Peace Julie Wilhelmsen (NUPI, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs) reviews The Russian Understanding of War: Blurring the Lines between War and Peace by Oscar Jonsson.
Spiraling toward a New Cold War in the North? The Effect of Mutual and Multifaceted Securitization
Building on a discourse-theoretical reading of securitization theory, this article theorizes and examines how two political entities can become locked in a negative spiral of identification that may lead to a violent confrontation. Through mutual and multifaceted securitization, each party increasingly construes the other as a threat to itself. When this representation spreads beyond the military domain to other dimensions (trade, culture, diplomacy), the other party is projected as “different” and “dangerous” at every encounter: positive mutual recognition is gradually blocked out. Military means then become the logical, legitimate way of relating: contact and collaboration in other issue-areas are precluded. Drawing on official statements 2014–2018, this article investigates how Norwegian–Russian relations shifted from being a collaborative partnership to one of enmity in the High North. The emerging and mutual pattern of representing the other as a threat across issue-areas since 2014 has become an “autonomous” driver of conflict—regardless of whether either party might originally have had offensive designs on the other.
Georgia’s strategic choices after the elections
Georgia wants closer integration in Western institutions and is also Russia's neighbour. How does this affect Georgia’s foreign policy?
Hvilke sikkerhetspolitiske utfordringer står Norge overfor? Russland som trussel mot Norge
Russia foreign and security policy since Putin came to power with an emphasis on relations with the West. The recent emergence of a new Cold War in the High North and challenges for Norwegian security.
Vi er himmelstormere - hvem var Elisif Wessel?
A seminar about Elisif Wessel with a discussion on political poetry activism and the dilemma of fighting for justice and liberation while avoiding selfrighteousness and hate of your opponent.
Recent developments in the High North and the relevance of the Cooperative Security Initiative
Distrustful relations between neighbors in the High North is a multi-actor game – on all sides – no willingness to meet, listen and compromise will play into the hands of those who want confrontation – on all sides – validating the claim that ‘they are out to get us’ – pushing the spiral of distrust and conflict further up. Conversely, willingness to meet, listen and compromise will play into the hands of those who want cooperation – on all sides. It will be the first steps out of the current spiral leading to potential confrontation on our continent.
Kommer Russerne?
What would a potential conflict with Russia look like? How can we prevent and avoid a new conflict with Russia? Interview with Julie Wilhelmsen and Tormod Heier at launch event for the magazine Samtiden in March 2020.