Publications
Making Rafha: explaining the establishment of Saudi Arabia’s first and only refugee camp
This article explores the establishment of the Rafha refugee camp in Saudi Arabia in the aftermath of the Gulf War, hosting 33,000 Iraqi refugees. The study draws on primary sources from the UNHCR archives and oral history interviews to explain the process leading to the establishment of the camp. The study offers new insights on how the state, and certain interests of a state, are, while highly relevant, not the only factors determining the outcome. Other factors contribute to explaining how the government responded to the particular situation and thus contribute to understanding the variation in approaches to refugee situations, in particular in the case of the Iraqi population in the Rafha refugee camp, the only refugee camp in the history of the Saudi state.
Central Asia between China and Russia: Exercising Agency in a Changing Regional Order
This report addresses a central question: why has China’s expanding engagement in Central Asia not led to direct rivalry with Russia? Organised around thematic expert contributions, the report examines Sino-Russian relations, China’s role in shaping regional order, and the economic and social dimensions of its engagement. It concludes with policy recommendations for the United Kingdom on how to apply existing priorities more effectively in Central Asia.
Russlands undertrykking gjennom lovverk etter 2022
Siden 2012 har Russland vært preget av stadig mer undertrykkende lover, som kan sees i sammenheng med ytterligere maktkonsolidering under Putins regime. Mens de undertrykkende bestemmelsene tidligere først og fremst rammet opposisjonelle stemmer og dissidenter, viser utviklingen etter 2022 at også brede deler av befolkningen nå blir berørt. Lovverket som omfatter utenlandske agenter, uønskede organisasjoner, terrorisme og ekstremisme, utgjør de mest repressivt rettede delene og bidrar i betydelig grad til alvorlige brudd på menneskerettigheter som ytrings-, organisasjons- og forsamlingsfrihet. Den russiske befolkningen befinner seg nå i en stadig mer vanskelig situasjon, der rommet for kritikk av regimet i praksis er blitt nærmest ikke-eksisterende.
Vedlegg til Kunnskapsnotat 1/2026: Utvalg av repressive lover og paragrafer i russisk lovverk
Utvalg av repressive lover og paragrafer i russisk lovverk. Oppdatert 10.02.2026. Vedlegg til Kunnskapsnotat 1/2026
Room for Change? Premises of the EU's Space Policy
Since 2009, the EU’s space policy has, to a large extent, been grounded in principles linked to the EU’s climate and environmental agenda, based on a peaceful orientation toward the use of outer space. The ongoing transformation in Europe, where geopolitics has greater momentum, can be described as a shift away from the EU as a normative space actor, which has been the institutionalized premise of the EU’s space policy. The article problematizes the fact that, despite increased attention to security and defense in space policy, this shift does not materialize in practice. Drawing on institutional theory, the article discusses the factors that sustain stability and prevent rapid change, explaining how continuity in the EU’s space policy makes transformation difficult. Based on the EU’s two space strategies from 2016 and 2023, as well as interviews with space policy bureaucrats within the EU system, the article analyzes whether security and defense have become strengthened premises of the EU’s space policy. The findings are based on traceable structural and strategic shifts that may indicate significant change. The article further examines how the lack of operationalization in the EU’s space strategies, internal political disagreement among EU member states regarding the EU’s mandate, and technological lock-ins in the development of space capabilities challenge the EU’s ability to implement its defense and security agenda in its space policy. The findings show that the EU is not able to implement new security and defense ambitions in its space policy at the expected pace of the political leadership.
China’s Multilateral aid engagement: From initial to basic and active participation
Although still limited in many ways, China is extending its multilateral aid and development engagement, upping its contributions and positions within the UN development system, proposing and resourcing new initiatives, and establishing new international organisations. Through the lenses of Chinese policy and new institutionalism theory perspectives, this chapter zooms in on the multilateral features of Chinese development aid. It maps how it has evolved and considers why China engages in multilateral aid. This chapter draws a timeline, starting with initial participation in the late 1970s and continuing with basic and maturing participation in the early 2000s, followed by a more active, albeit in many ways limited, still, participation from around 2010. Summarising China’s current multilateral aid engagement, this chapter points to a mixed picture, reflecting Chinese policy traditions and Beijing’s increasingly tricky navigation between growing superpower muscles and holding on to a developing country status.
Japan and Strategic Connectivity: Policies, Partners, and Possibilities
This report analyses the increasingly important role of infrastructure development and connectivity as a central arena of global geopolitical competition, particularly focusing on Japan’s connectivity policy under the banner of the Free and Open Indo-Pacific. The core aim of this report is to explore how Japan seeks to utilise strategic connectivity, specifically through its multi-layered approach, as a pivotal geopolitical instrument to project influence and promote a rules-based order, amidst rising competition with China. The report offers ten actionable policy recommendations, in particular, for the European Union.
Fokusnummer: Norge og EU i endring
What do you do when the EEA Agreement is no longer sufficient? This special issue of the journal Internasjonal politikk highlights the challenges Norway faces as the EU evolves and a demanding international environment puts Norwegian interests under pressure. Marianne Riddervold, Pernille Rieker, and Tine Elisabeth Johnsen Brøgger examine challenges in security and defence; Guri Rosén addresses trade and economic security; Frode Veggeland and Martin Stangborli Time focus on health preparedness; Merethe Dotterud Leiren, Marie Byskov Lindberg, and Kacper Szulecki analyse the energy transition; and John Erik Fossum and Trym Fjørtoft discuss the state of democracy in Europe. As editor, Pernille Rieker has also written the issue’s editorial.
Ghana 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.
Governance by indicators and the re-politicisation of expertise
States are measured and ranked on an ever-expanding array of country performance indicators (CPIs). Such indicators are seductive because they provide actionable, accessible, and ostensibly objective information on complex phenomena to time-pressed officials and enable citizens to hold governments to account. At the same time, a sizeable body of research has explored how CPIs entail ‘black boxing’ and depoliticisation of political phenomena. This article advances our understanding of the consequences of governance by indicators by examining how CPIs generate specific forms of politicization that can undermine a given CPI’s authority over time. We contend that CPIs rely upon two different claims to authority that operate in tension with one another: i) the claim to provide expert, objective knowledge and ii) the claim to render the world more transparent and to secure democratic accountability. Analysing CPIs in the field of education, economic governance, and health and development, we theorize and empirically document how this tension leads to three distinct forms of politicisation: scrutiny from experts that politicises the value judgements embodied in a CPI; competition whereby rival CPIs contest the objectivity of knowledge of leading CPIs; and corruption, where gaming of CPIs challenges its claim to securing transparent access to social reality. While the analysis identifies multiple paths to the politicization and undermining of specific CPIs’ authority, the article elaborates why these processes tend to leave intact and even reproduce the legitimacy of CPIs as a governance technology.