Event

The seminar lasts from 08:30 to 14:00

2022 in Europe is characterized by Russia's relentless and brutal war in Ukraine. An invasion which, in addition to incomprehensible human suffering and total devastation of huge areas higher energy prices and food shortages, have led to changed alliance patterns and increased geopolitical tension in the world. On top of this, China's increased sabre-rattling and stronger ties to Russia have now appears to have changed the security landscape drastically.

On the other hand, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has also helped to bring Europe and the NATO countries together in a new solidarity, with each other and not least with Ukraine. One of the major developments is Finland and Sweden's NATO applications. The fact that these countries have now chosen to seek alliance affiliation also marks a shift in the security policy picture in Northern Europe, the Nordic region and the Arctic. This new security landscape raises major questions that this seminar will address. What does the development of security policy in the Nordic areas look like for important allies such as the USA, Great Britain, and Germany? How should Norway and an expanded NATO deal with this? What opportunities and challenges are there for Norway in this new security policy landscape?

Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the security policy developments naturally also challenge Norway's bilateral relations with Russia. A relationship that has been based on a balancing act between deterrence and reassurance. Is appeasement as an idea dead after February 24, 2022? How will Norway in the future relate to Russia in the short and long term, regardless of the outcome of the war? And what role will Sweden and Finland play in this?

The Military Power seminar 2022 aims to shed light on the above-mentioned questions and what consequences it has for security in Norway's immediate vicinity. There will be contributions from a number of experts from home and abroad, including NUPI's own research in this area as well as Norwegian decision-makers.

The last panel of the conference will be in Norwegian.

The seminar will be streamed on NUPI's YouTube channel.

• Bent-Joacim Bentzen is State secretary for the Norwegian Ministry of Defence. He has previously worked as Political Advisor and served multiple years in the Norwegian Armed Forces.
• Stian Jenssen is Director of the Private Office of the NATO Secretary General.
• Jardar Østbø heads the Program for Russian Security- and defence policy at the Norwegian Defence College. His research interests include Russian Security Policy, Russian Geopolitical Approach and Russian Arctic-policy.
• Barbara Kunz has been a researcher at IFSH since 2019, where she primarily works on European security and defence affairs. Kunz analyses how Europeans together can respond to 21st century security challenges. The debate on European strategic autonomy and its possible declinations is currently at the heart of her interest, not least against the backdrop of a changing transatlantic relationship. In this context, she mainly focuses on the various national approaches – in particular in Germany, France and Northern Europe – and developments in relevant organizations, notably the European Union and NATO.
• Ruth Harris is Director of the Defence, Security and Infrastructure Group at RAND Europe. Harris has an extensive track record in the contemporary and future operating environment, strategy, policy and conflict analysis. She has conducted evaluation of defence operations, grey zone conflicts and the future threat environment. She has recently worked extensively on the impact of climate change on defence planning and security threats.
• William C. Wohlforth is Faculty Director at the Dartmouth Institute for Global Security. He has been a member of the Government Department's faculty since 2000 where he teaches and conducts research on international relations, with an emphasis on international security and foreign policy. He has authored an extensive amount of academic works on topics ranging from the Cold War to contemporary U.S. grand strategy.
• Kristin Haugevik is Senior Research Fellow in the Research Group on Global Order and Diplomacy at NUPI. An International Relations scholar, her research revolves around international diplomacy, inter-state cooperation and friendship with a geographical focus on the Euro-Atlantic region and the foreign policies of Britain and the Nordic states.
• Caroline Holmqvist is a Senior Lecturer of War Studies at the Swedish Defence University, Department of War Studies and Military History. Her research is centred on contemporary war and violence, specifically war and the human subject, war and society as well as time, temporality and global relations of violence.
• Minna Ålander is a Research Fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. Her areas of expertise include Northern European security, German foreign and security policy and Finnish foreign and security policy.
• Ole Martin Stormoen is a PhD Fellow in NUPI’s Research Group for Security and Defence.  In his PhD he analyses Norwegian strategic culture and examines how strategic culture changes, and what mechanisms can explain such changes. In addition to defence, security and foreign policy, his research interests are causes of political violence, terrorism and extremism, with a main focus on jihadism and various countermeasures against these.
• Øystein Jensen is a Research Professor at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute. His research interests include General issues of public international law, with a particular focus on law of the sea and international institutional law. He has a particular geographic focus on the Polar Regions, especially Norway’s maritime areas.
• Dag Henriksen is a Lieutenant Colonel, and Head of research and development at the Royal Norwegian Air Force Academy. He has operational background from air battle management and served in NATO operations in the Baltics (Baltic Accession) in 2005 and in Afghanistan (ISAF HQ) in 2007.
• Thomas Nilsen has been editor of The Independent Barents Observer since 2009. He has extensive experience in media cooperation across the borders in the High North of Europe, both as radio- and newspaper reporter all the way back to the days before the breakup of the Soviet Union.

Speakers

Ulf Sverdrup

Former Director

Bent-Joacim Bentzen

State secretary, Ministry of Defence

Stian Jenssen

Director of the private office, NATO

Jardar N. Østbø

Professor, IFS

Barbara Kunz

Senior Researcher, Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy (IFSH), University of Hamburg

Ruth Harris

Research Group Director, RAND Corporation

William C Wohlforth

Professor, Dartmouth

Karsten Friis

Research Professor

Kristin Haugevik

Research Professor

Caroline Holmquist

Senior Lecturer, Swedish Defence University

Minna Ålander

Research Fellow, Finnish Institute of International Affairs

Øyvind Svendsen

Senior Research Fellow

Ole Martin Stormoen

Researcher

Øystein Jensen

Research Professor, The Fridtjof Nansen Institute

Dag Henriksen

Research leader, The Norwegian Defence

Thomas Nilsen

Editor, Barents Observer

Erik Reichborn-Kjennerud

Senior Research Fellow