Publications
Våpen alene er et blindspor
The path forward in what is undeniably a political crisis in inter-state relations appears, on the surface, to be rather straightforward: rearmament. Attention is then directed toward quantifying and benchmarking—counting both the numbers and each other: What is required, and who is doing the most? This has become a prevailing pattern throughout the war in Ukraine, where militarization is perceived as the only effective response. For a Ukraine that stands to lose U.S. support, prioritizing weapons is indeed crucial at this moment, in order to secure leverage at the negotiating table being set by Trump. But for Europe, an arms-only approach is a dead end—and this is something European leaders ought to recognize. As the metaphorical iron curtain threatens to once again divide the peoples of Europe, we need pragmatic leaders who take diplomacy seriously, writes Julie Wilhelmsen in this op-ed.
Water and conflict in Central Asia
Temperatures in Central Asia are rising faster than the world average, reducing water availability, increasing food security, and causing more frequent natural disasters. The Aral Sea Basin’s arid climate makes it particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Among the Central Asian countries, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are the most vulnerable to water stress. Inter-state disputes over water became more frequent during 2014-2024, including some violent conflicts. Water-related protests in Central Asia are becoming more frequent relative to other types of protest. Joint action is required to increase the region’s water storage capacity, since accelerated glacier melt may destabilize the seasonal runoff.
The United Nations–African Union Partnership and the Protection of Civilians
The landscape of peace operations in Africa has transformed over the past decade, including a marked increase in African-led peace support operations (PSOs). Since the early 2000s, the African Union (AU) and UN have evolved distinct, albeit parallel, conceptual and operational approaches to the protection of civilians (POC). While the UN views POC in peacekeeping as a whole-of-mission objective, with military, police, and civilian components prioritizing POC and proactively protecting civilians, the AU views itself as contributing to the protection of civilians primarily by neutralizing armed groups and establishing a protective environment. These differences raise important questions about how POC will be upheld in the context of the UN-AU partnership. This report examines the operational differences between UN and AU approaches to POC, assessing their respective advantages and limitations. It highlights how African-led PSOs tend to be more able and willing to use force to respond to outbreaks of violence and to contain aggressors but have less sustainable and flexible financing than UN peacekeeping operations. Meanwhile, UN peacekeeping missions with POC mandates have more robust civilian and police components but may lack rapid response capabilities. To strengthen their partnership on POC, the two organizations should leverage their comparative advantages, acknowledge their respective limitations, and work toward an approach to POC that is tailored to each context.
The EU should get serious about maritime security in the Middle East and the Gulf
To achieve its global maritime ambitions, the EU must strengthen its presence in the Middle East and the Gulf. The current geopolitical climate offers a chance to become a key maritime security provider and a reliable partner to actors in the region. Securing shipping lanes from the Mediterranean to the Gulf is crucial for the EU’s economy, its energy supply, and its geopolitical influence. This policy note argues that the EU should (1) overcome fragmentation in its maritime operations in the region; and (2) emphasize the distinct ‘European approach’ to maritime security.
Rational Illusions: Everyday Theories of International Status and the Domestic Politics of Boer War
Existing research has documented that status-seeking abounds in world politics. Yet the status hierarchies to which states respond and compete within are notoriously ambiguous and difficult to empirically ascertain. This ambiguity has begotten considerable disagreement among scholars over the nature of international hierarchies. Making a strength out of this slipperiness, this article posits that international status can be studied via the everyday theories of status that governments and their opponents themselves produce and use to interpret their state’s status. Treating these everyday theories as productive of the world they purport to describe, such an approach foregrounds the interpretative agency of domestic groups to develop and maintain "hierarchies of their own making," which need not be recognized internationally to become crucial for policy legitimation domestically. In order to study such everyday theories’ systematically, the article develops a new meta-linguistic framework for identifying and mapping their use within domestic politics. Via a case study on the Boer War (1899-1902), the article shows how domestic battles over what international status is can shape domestic politics and policy outcomes.
Moral- og realpolitikk i en ny verden
The scenes from the White House on Saturday unsettled even the most seasoned analysts. The anticipated signing of the mineral agreement—which was expected to provide Ukraine with an indirect American security guarantee that the country desperately needs—did not take place. Instead, the public witnessed an open dispute between President Donald Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, and President Volodymyr Zelensky. The deal that may now emerge in the aftermath of these events is unlikely to be the one Ukraine had hoped for. Subsequent commentary on social media has largely focused on identifying who initiated the quarrel. These responses have tended to fall into two polarized camps, each assigning clear blame to one side—either Zelensky or Trump and Vance
Care, Control and Calories: A Genealogy of Measuring International Undernutrition
This article documents the historical development of the calory and its application in international measurement of undernutrition. It provides an empirical account of the origins of caloric measurement as a scientific instrument, its uptake into international statistics on undernutrition produced by the League of Nations and the United Nations, and eventual use in monitoring global development goals. The historical analysis explores and discusses how a dialectic of care and control is embedded in macrosocial measurement of hunger: Caloric statistics have served as a condition of possibility for states and international agencies to render food systems governable through constituting a novel form of legibility that pushed the frontiers for modern schemes of top-down intervention and control. Such measurements have furthermore served as a vital resource to legitimize and justify the ambitions of the UN and modern development agenda, serving to establish and shape grand narratives of humanity’s progress under different food regimes. Based on this historical analysis, the article provides a normative and epistemic argument for centring the perspectives and knowledges of those affected by hunger in the enumeration of nutrition and food security. Such democratic agency should however not just be an object of measurement but be leveraged through participatory methodologies that draw upon the voices of the food insecure to better capture the multidimensional nature of food security through numbers.
Emotional assertiveness: China's coercive diplomacy against non-state actors
While the economic, political and military instruments of China's coercive diplomacy have been intensely studied in recent years, its emotional dimension has largely been overlooked. This article investigates China's ‘emotional assertiveness’ as a distinct discursive practice of coercion in which state representatives publicly express moral indignation and urge offenders to apologize for violating China's red lines. It examines several western non-state actors targeted by China in this way, as these unexplored cases provide a unique perspective on the role played by emotions in state coercive diplomacy. Specifically, they demonstrate how identity-related emotionalized concerns, rather than instrumental and strategic considerations, may sometimes constitute the underlying motivational driver of China's assertiveness. Apart from carving out new space for a non-rationalist approach to coercive diplomacy within the International Relations discipline, the article develops the key components of China's emotional assertiveness, arguing that it is fuelled by moral indignation, rather than anger; is triggered by a perceived wrong; is nurtured by identity-related concerns; and is manifested in repeated demands for repentance. To illustrate China's practice of emotional assertiveness, the article analyses two specific cases: Intel's instruction in 2021 to its suppliers to avoid products from Xinjiang and an opinion piece that appeared in the Wall Street Journal in early 2020, titled ‘China is the real sick man of Asia’.
Regional organizations, global governance and the EU
The US is distancing itself from institutions it has been central in establishing, and recent crises like COVID-19, the Russia-Ukraine war, and the Gaza conflict have raised critical questions about the future direction of international cooperation and global governance. This report sheds light on the role of regional organizations as a key component of global governance. It offers detailed analyses of the historical evolution and contemporary functioning of key regional organizations and discuss their role in fostering multilateral decision-making.
Verden brenner. Hordan formidles det til barna våre?
Op-ed in the Norwegian media outlet Aftenposten.