Researcher
Morten Bøås
Contactinfo and files
Summary
Morten Bøås (PhD) is Research Professor and works predominantly on issues concerning peace and conflict in Africa, including issues such as land rights and citizenship conflicts, youths, ex-combatants and the new landscape of insurgencies and geopolitics.
Bøås has authored, co-authored and co-edited several books and published a number of articles for academic journals. He has conducted in-depth fieldwork in a number of African countries and travelled widely elsewhere on the continent.
Expertise
Education
2001 Dr.Polit. (Ph.D) in Political Science, University of Oslo
1995 The CRE/Copernicus Seminar on Environmental Law
1994 Cand.Polit., in Political Science, University of Oslo
Work Experience
2013- Research professor, NUPI
2010-2012 Head of Research, Fafo’s Institute for Applied International Studies
2002-2010 Research Fellow, Fafo
Aktivitet
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Clear all filtersGhana and Côte d’Ivoire: Geopolitical upheaval and democracy under strain
The regional neighbourhood of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, two of West Africa’s most stable democracies, has become increasingly volatile. Drawing on empirical data from fieldwork carried out in Accra and Abidjan in June 2025, this report highlights a set of cross-cutting and interlinked issues that Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire have to navigate. This report is part of a project financed by the Norwegian MFA.
Trust, anger and the limits of EU democracy promotion
Jessica Hendrick is joined by Morten Bøås to go inside RE-ENGAGE’s fieldwork across six EU candidate countries—revealing what citizens actually tr...
Social trust and resilience: Recent findings from Ukraine
In this seminar we will launch the NUPI Ukraine Centre and present fresh data from the first face-to-face street survey completed in Kyiv since the Russian full-scale invasion.
Borders Ending Nowhere: The Geopolitical Imaginaries and Practices of Russia’s Spheres of Interest in Africa
Russia has been involved in Africa since Tsarist times, but its involvement has ebbed and flowed. Nonetheless, the idea of Africa as an open political landscape in which Russia could act as a great power has been relatively persistent, often in connection with the domestic resurfacing of civilisational discourses on Russian exceptionalism. Recently, there has been much concern in the West about the expansion of Russian projection in Africa, with some suggesting that Moscow is establishing a sphere of influence. Our analysis of Russia’s geopolitical imagination and its subsequent practices does not lead us to conclude that a deliberate attempt to establish a genuine sphere of influence is underway. Instead, we see an opportunistic endeavour to assert and shape a geographically continuous sphere of interest (Russian: sfera interesov), negotiating with local partners forms of collaboration that reflect and prompt change in the international system.
Kupp og kaos: Sahel i unntakstilstand
Hva er et kupp? Hvorfor er Afrika verdens mest kupputsatte kontinent? Og kanskje viktigst av alt: Hva betyr dette for de menneskene som lever der?...
From ability to defend to willingness to defend – What can Norway learn from Ukraine?
What does it take to create a willingness to defend your country? ...
Trump 2.0 og internasjonal politikk
I denne spesialrapporten har Senter for geopolitikk samlet en rekke bidrag fra forskere tilknyttet senteret, fra Fridtjof Nansen Institutt, Institutt for Forsvarsstudier, Universitetet i Oslo, UiT – Norges Arktiske Universitet og Norsk Utenrikspolitisk Institutt. Bidragene setter søkelys på noen konkrete temaer som inntak til å forstå et USA i endring og hva det vil kunne bety for andre stater, og for utviklingen på konkrete politikkfelt. Rapporten har særlig fokus på hva disse endringene, hver for seg og samlet, betyr for Europa og Norge. En oppdatert versjon ble publisert 12.06.25, klokken 12.40.