Researcher
Morten Skumsrud Andersen
Contactinfo and files
Summary
Morten S. Andersen is a Senior Research Fellow in the Research group on Global order and Diplomacy. In addition to a focus on theoretical and methodological aspects of International Relations, his research concerns how relations of power and dominance between states have evolved and been legitimated over time. In this, he focuses particularly on hierarchy and empires and on international conceptual history.
Selected publications:
(2026) “How Empires Emerge”, European Journal of International Relations.
(2025) “The Chinese are Coming! U.S. Think Tanks and the Belt and Road Initiative in the Middle East and North Africa”, with Neil Ketchley and Ole Jacob Sending, Review of International Political Economy.
(2025) “Anarchy is What the Balance of power Made of It: Two core concepts and the public/private distinction”, International Studies Quarterly, 69(3).
(2024) The Political Economy of National security, Critical Infrastructure and Securitization of Foreign Investments. Palgrave McMillan. Ed., with Jakub Godzimirski.
(2022) “The unsolicited rocket: a story of science, technology, and future wars”, Critical Military Studies. With Erik Reichborn-Kjennerud.
(2021) Undermining American Hegemony. The Logic of Goods Substitution in World Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Ed., with Alexander Cooley and Daniel Nexon.
Expertise
Education
2016 PhD, The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Title of PhD thesis: A genealogy of the balance of power.
2008 MSc International Relations; London School of Economics
2006 Bachelor in international politics, University of Oslo/Universidad Externado de Colombia
2003 Latin American studies, Universidad de Costa Rica
Work Experience
2022-2025 Head of the Research Group on Global Order and Diplomacy, NUPI
2008- Research fellow/Doctotal Research Fellow/Senior Research Fellow, NUPI
Aktivitet
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Clear all filtersComrade, Customer, Client, or Critic? European States’ Engagements with China’s Belt and Road Initiative
Why do some European states embrace China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), while others keep it at arm’s length or actively oppose it? States like Greece and Hungary have welcomed BRI investments as a political counterweight to Brussels, while Germany and others have remained skeptical, despite their economic ties to China. To capture the variation in how states respond to the BRI, we draw on theories of incomplete contracts and relational contracting, which foreground recipient states’ agency in negotiating with a more powerful counterpart. Here, what shapes the engagement is the character of the relations between the parties rather than the content of the contracts. We propose four ideal-typical relations of Comrade, Client, Customer, and Critic, each associated with distinct policy behaviors and underlying drivers, to assess how the BRI interacts with domestic politics and historical and existing relations. We argue that the BRI does not necessarily change existing alignments, but rather that it may reinforce or be adapted to them—and that such changes are contingent on domestic and institutional recalibrations. The proposed ideal-typical patterns help us understand the different, specific trajectories that emerge in the four studied cases—Greece, Poland, Hungary, and Germany—and how they are mediated by domestic politics. Further, the ideal-typical relations proposed here can help us assess the political and economic significance of the BRI while also contributing to broader debates about possible changes in China’s global position and the building blocks of an emerging international order.
The Political Effects of China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Context, Competition, and Infrastructure Politics
In this special issue, the authors identify three contextual dimensions that are particularly important for understanding the political effects of the Belt Road Initiative (BRI). First, bilateral relations and domestic politics: how a country’s history of interactions with China, and the particularities of its domestic politics, affects how the BRI is received, negotiated, and politicized. Second, the politics of international goods substitution: the BRI does not operate in a vacuum but in an ecology of competing providers of infrastructures and related international goods. The effects of any given investment will depend on what alternatives are available to recipient states. Third, symbolic and ideational contexts. Beyond its material dimensions, the BRI can function as an identity or status marker—for China, for recipient states, and for adversaries—in ways that may carry independent political consequences. Engaging with these three contextual dimensions, the authors argue, is key to moving beyond abstraction or insulation, and toward a fuller picture of the political effects of the BRI. The contributions to this special issue all investigate how these contextual dimensions of the BRI condition its political effects across regions and issue areas. Thereby, they seek to bridge the gap between macro-level accounts of China’s rise, and the more fine-grained studies of BRI projects. In this introduction, the authors first review the evolution of research on the BRI before addressing these three contextual dimensions in more detail and how they relate to the contributions comprising the special issue.
Psychology, Status, and Recognition in International Politics
In this episode, Professor Deborah Welch Larson joins host Morten Skumsrud Andersen to discuss how the need for recognition and the fear of status...
Uniformens paradoks (The Paradox of the Uniform)
Morten S. Andersen writes about uniforms in this book chapter from the book "Klær - Påkledningens sosiale liv fra bronsealder til Barne-TV". Uniforms are more than clothes and fabric — they are an expression of the fundamental tension between the individual and the collective. They make us part of something larger than ourselves, but can also strengthen our own identity. The uniform is a practical garment, but also a symbol of power, belonging, and self-understanding.
Kledd for makt
Få legger merke til hva statsledere og politikere har på seg når antrekket funker. Men når det feiler, blir bekledningen omtrent det eneste folk s...
Chinese infrastructure power in a changing global landscape and its alternatives
This seminar draws on five years of research to examine China's Belt and Road Initiative and its alternatives, from Europe and Latin America to Southeast Asia and the MENA region.
“Ambassador, you’re really spoiling us!” Diplomatic gifts and profligate autocrats
Qatar’s “unconditional” gift of a $400 million Boeing 747-8 to Donald Trump serves as a reminder that states have long used diplomatic gifts to impress others, forge bonds, and secure favorable treatment. However, in an age where citizens and media outlets routinely scrutinize public spending, there is good reason to think that not all governments are able to justify lavishing large sums on such interactions. In this paper, we test the claim that autocracies are less constrained in their diplomatic gift giving due to an absence of domestic accountability mechanisms. To evidence this, the authors draw on a dataset of diplomatic gifts presented to U.S. presidents from 2001 to 2018. The results show that autocratic regimes systematically spend more on diplomatic gifts than do democracies. Supplementary analyses suggest that this is, in part, due to new media in democracies being able to criticize profligate diplomatic practices. Interviews with Norwegian diplomats corroborate the importance of domestic media scrutiny in shaping diplomatic gift giving. The article contributes to scholarship that probes the relationship between regime type and public spending, by showing its relevance to diplomatic interactions.
Gull, gaver og goodwill: Diplomati med silkebånd
Hvorfor ga Qatar en Boeing 747 til en verdi av 400 millioner dollar til Donald Trump, mens Norge gjerne bare gir en liten glassisbjørn? I denne ep...
Roundtable: Constructivism in an Era of Geopolitics
What is the relevance of constructivist scholarship in a world shaped by great power competition, war, and security concerns?