Researcher
Minda Holm
Contactinfo and files
Summary
Dr. Minda Holm is a Senior Research Fellow at NUPI, working on questions of global order and global governance, ideology and ideological contestation, the function of different liberalisms and dominant state ideals in international politics historically and at the present time, the tensions between liberal-democratic values and security and warfare, the global ideas of illiberal, reactionary, radical right and antiliberal forces, and the different meanings of sovereignty, morality, and (mis)recognition in global politics. She works on these topics both theoretically (social and political theory), and empirically. She holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Copenhagen (September 2023), with a monograph titled ‘Towards a Social Theory of International Ideology, Ideological Scripts, and Counter-Ideology. Rethinking ‘Liberal International Order’ and the Far Right’s Critique’. Whilst doing her PhD, she also worked at the Danish Institute of International Studies (DIIS), where she was a part of the project World of the Right. She was also the project leader between 2018-2023 on a research project that studied the international ideology and networks of the Far Right in Europe, Russia, and the US, and their implications for global order.
Holm has in parallel with writing her monograph published in journals such as Review of International Studies, International Studies Review, The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, and New Perspectives, in peer-reviewed anthologies, and in Scandinavian-language peer-reviewed outlets, on topics ranging from conceptual history and sovereignty, (mis)recognition and shifting state ideals within international law and politics, liberal exceptionalism, self-perceptions, and double standards, reactionary, radical right and illiberal visions of world politics, international diaspora politics, Norwegian, US, and Russian foreign policy and diplomacy, and historical and political changes within liberal internationalism. She has had a monthly column on global politics since 2017, since 2020 in Klassekampen. She holds a double master’s degree in international relations from the London School of Economics (LSE) and the George Washington University, where she was a Fulbright scholar. She has lived and studied in Egypt, Wales, Russia, the US, England, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Denmark, and is a board member of the Human Rights House Foundation (2018- ). She was editor-in-chief of the Scandinavian peer-reviewed IR journal Internasjonal Politikk between 2018 and 2024. See her personal webpage for more, including publications.
Expertise
Education
2018 – 2023 PhD, Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen. Submitted November 2022, defended after maternity leave September 2023.
2015 – 2016 MA George Washington University, USA (Fulbright scholar)
2013 – 2014 MSc London School of Economics and Political Science, England
2008 – 2013 BA (2, in parallel), Political Science and Russia studies, University of Oslo and American University in Cairo, Oslo/Egypt
Main work experience
2023 – Senior Research Fellow, NUPI
2018 – 2022 PhD Fellow, NUPI, University of Copenhagen and Danish Institute of International Studies (DIIS)
2017 – 2018 Research Fellow, NUPI
2012 – 2017 Research Assistant, NUPI (fulltime from January 2016)
2012 – 2012 Intern, Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Tajikistan
2010 – 2011 Trainee, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kazakhstan (covering all of Central Asia)
2009 – 2010 Journalist, Radio Nova
Aktivitet
Filter
Clear all filtersStår den liberale epoken for fall?
30 years after the fall of the wall the world is more about continuity than change.
Common Fear Factors in Foreign Policy (COMFEAR)
COMFEAR aims to identify key issues of common concern and shared threats as perceived by publics and policymakers in Czechia and Norway. ...
Kreml og den liberale idéen
How radical is Kremlin's anti-liberalism?
Y-blokka og Syria
On the securitisation of different spheres of Norwegian society
Why Populist Foreign Policies in Europe are Doomed to Fail
Professor Andrew Moravcsik visits NUPI to talk about the surge of populism in Europe and its limitations for foreign policy.
Ethnic Diversity in the Recruitment of Diplomats: Why MFAs Take the Issue Seriously
Diversity and its management have become an issue in all organisations. Ministries of foreign affairs (MFAs) do not escape the issue. In the 2000s, states decided to consider more ethnic diversity in the recruitment of their diplomats. In some countries, this new goal requires affirmative action programs. This article is based on three case studies. The first case study analyses two Western countries — France and Norway — where MFAs have to reflect the diversity of immigration in their societies. The second case study analyses the case of Brazil, a country where the legacy of slavery still causes discrimination in the recruitment of diplomats. The third case study analyses ethnic diversity in the MFAs of India and Singapore, which recognise multiculturalism or multiracialism. The study draws five comparative conclusions to generalise on why MFAs in the world cannot escape the challenge of ethnic diversity in their recruitment policy.
Liberale verdifellesskap og selvbilder i praksis: Hvordan Norge gikk til krig og hva vi kan lære
(In norwegian only) Hvilke lærdommer kan vi trekke av bombingen av Libya i 2011? Var krigføringen i tråd med krigens folkerett? Brøt norske myndigheter grunnloven i forbindelse med krigsdeltagelsen? Levde media opp til sitt samfunnsoppdrag så lenge krigføringen i Libya pågikk? Ble det norske folk holdt for narr om de egentlige årsakene til krigen? Og hva ble konsekvensene av Libya-krigen for nasjonen Libya, regionen og verdenssamfunnet? Libya: Krigens uutholdelige letthet setter et kritisk søkelys på Norges deltagelse i den Nato-ledete operasjonen i Libya. Blant forfatterne finner vi folkerettsjurister, historikere, militære, statsvitere og professorer i journalistikk og fredsforskning. Et felles utgangspunkt for alle bidragsyterne er spørsmålet om hva norske politikere, militære og det norske folk kan og bør lære av Norges første krig i Afrika.
The Politics of Diasporas and the Duty of Care: Legitimizing interventions through the protection of kin
The duty of care (DoC) is largely portrayed as being of a benevolent and liberal character, with welfare states aiding its citizens abroad. In this chapter Holm examines a more complex phenomenon involving the DoC: that of a state and its diaspora. Seeing Duty of Care in relation to diasporas poses a conceptual shift: often multinational in identification, with a perceived or real ‘homeland’, and at times with dual (legal) citizenship, diasporas may be sought protected under an extended, non-territorialized notion of belonging to a state’s citizenry. Looking at Russian rhetoric in the Georgia war in 2008 and the Crimean annexation and Ukraine crisis in 2014, Holm explores how the Duty of Care can be evoked rhetorically to defend diaspora groups by kin-states. In relation to a domestic audience, this prism proves highly effective, as the state portrays its actions as defending ‘their’ people abroad out of a moral necessity and responsibility for their kin. It also functions to dismiss international stigma and critique at home based on a perceived higher moral purpose. As in the case of diasporas in inter-state conflicts with Georgia and Ukraine, this turns the Duty of Care into a complicated, and potentially highly politicized, international matter. It also provides a communitarian alternative to the cosmopolitan R2P: in theory, any group can be defined as worth defending as one’s own, across and despite opposing claims to sovereignty. The chapter concludes with discussing the wider ramifications of diaspora group protection by kin-states for challenges to the liberal international order.
Russland og det ytre høyre
(Available in Norwegian only): Båndene mellom Russland og ytre høyre i Europa er mer kompliserte enn man kan få inntrykk av i vestlig media, skriver Minda Holm i denne kronikken.
Tungt skyts
(Available in Norwegian only): Minda Holm anmelder Jon Hellesnes’ bok ‘NATO-komplekset: Om militærpolitikk, atomvåpen og norsk USA-servilitet’ i Klassekampens bokmagasin. Holm skriver her om de sannhetene som tas for gitt i norsk sikkerhets- og forsvarspolitikk, deriblant forholdet til USA og NATO. Hva er effekten av at Forsvarsdepartementet finansierer så mye av forskningen på norsk forsvarspolitikk?