Publications
A Comprehensive Strategy EU Strategy for Africa Political Dialogue: Governance, Security and Migration
Much has changed since the creation of the Joint Africa-European Union (EU) Strategy in 2007. The developing world has been changing fast. Development policy and practices are also transforming, albeit at a slower pace. The divide between emerging economies and ‘fragile states’ is increasing. This is also the case in Africa. As not only Africa, but also the EU-Africa relationship is changing and evolving into new dimensions, there is clearly a need to develop a new European strategy, constructed on the basis of an emerging continent. Africa is home to the youngest population in the world and some of the world’s most fragile states. However, it is also a continent with emerging markets and more effective governments. This brief aims to clarify how well the new Strategy must manage to mainstream a European approach to Africa that considers both the inter-continental dialogue and the diversity of development on this emerging continent within the fields of governance, security and migration. As the COVID-19 has turned into a pandemic, the brief also suggests that the new European strategy must reflect this development and the European Parliament should closely monitor the situation as it discusses the Strategy.
Etterretningstjenestene og det nye trusselbildet: Er de beredt?
The current international situation places far higher demands on coordination, cooperation and interaction between the services than before. At the same time, there have been, and are, a number of different challenges associated with collaboration between PST and Norway's military intelligence. These are based on a number of different factors, such as resources, mandate, organization and culture. The authors propose a number of reforms that build on the current model, but which they believe will solve the current challenges.
United Nations peace operations and International Relations theory: An introduction
International Relations (IR) theories may seem abstract and arcane. With this book, we want to dispel this stereotype. The contributors to this volume demonstrate how IR theories can be applied to a very practical problem: UN peace operations, 1 one of the main instruments of international conflict management. Besides peace operations, the chapters shed light on many other aspects of international affairs, such as multilateral co-operation, the role of international bureaucracies, and evolution and contestation of norms. At the same time, the reader whose interest in the volume has been sparked by its thematic focus will find state-of-the-art research on the main issues affecting UN peace operations, ranging from the impact of rising powers to a widening space for individual initiative.
Hvor radikale er de høyreradikale?
To be both radical and conservative is not necessarily a contradiction, writes Minda Holm in this op-ed published in Klassekampen.
Hvor radikale er de egentlig? Om det populistiske radikale høyre som motideologisk prosjekt
How radical is the populist radical right really? On the populist radical right as a counter-ideological project.
Russia and frozen conflicts in the Black Sea region
This policy brief examines the role frozen conflicts play in Russian policy towards the Black Sea Region and measures that could be taken to limit the negative impact of this policy in the region.1 Its focus is on the four frozen conflicts existing in the post-Soviet space – Transnistria in Moldova, Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia, and Nagorno Karabakh in Azerbaijan, as well as on the more recent conflict in Eastern Ukraine that has many features characteristic of frozen conflicts and the aim is to demonstrate how these conflicts have been instrumentalized in Russian foreign and security policy and what needs to be done in policy terms to limit the negative impacts these conflicts have had and may have on the security situation in the region. The first section presents the general understanding of the frozen conflicts. The second part presents briefly the main parameters of frozen conflicts that have emerged and are still very much present in the post-Soviet space and in the broadly understood Black Sea Region. The third part focuses on the role of frozen conflicts in Russian foreign and security policy, and the fourth part presents some policy relevant conclusions and recommendations. The main preliminary conclusion is that these conflicts will most probably remain unsolved in the foreseeable future and that this will have a negative impact on the security situation in the region where Russia will still approach these conflicts in an instrumental manner as an issue that can give Russia some strategic advantages or at least prevent solution of these conflicts in a way that would reduce Russia’s strategic footprint in the region.
The Crimean Aircraft Carrier. RUSSIAN FEDERATION MILITARIZATION OF THE BLACK SEA
This policy brief examines the role frozen conflicts play in Russian policy towards the Black Sea Region and measures that could be taken to limit the negative impact of this policy in the region.1 Its focus is on the four frozen conflicts existing in the post-Soviet space – Transnistria in Moldova, Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia, and Nagorno Karabakh in Azerbaijan, as well as on the more recent conflict in Eastern Ukraine that has many features characteristic of frozen conflicts and the aim is to demonstrate how these conflicts have been instrumentalized in Russian foreign and security policy and what needs to be done in policy terms to limit the negative impacts these conflicts have had and may have on the security situation in the region. The first section presents the general understanding of the frozen conflicts. The second part presents briefly the main parameters of frozen conflicts that have emerged and are still very much present in the post-Soviet space and in the broadly understood Black Sea Region. The third part focuses on the role of frozen conflicts in Russian foreign and security policy, and the fourth part presents some policy relevant conclusions and recommendations. The main preliminary conclusion is that these conflicts will most probably remain unsolved in the foreseeable future and that this will have a negative impact on the security situation in the region where Russia will still approach these conflicts in an instrumental manner as an issue that can give Russia some strategic advantages or at least prevent solution of these conflicts in a way that would reduce Russia’s strategic footprint in the region.
Koonings, Kees, Dirk Kruijt and Dennis Rodgers (eds.), Ethnography as risky business: field research in violent and sensitive contexts
Ethnography as risky business is a 16‐chapter edited volume, providing its readers with a collection of first‐hand ethnographic experiences gathered in contexts shaped by violence and conflict. The book springs out of a symposium that took place in 2014, at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. The editors are upfront about the fact that the book does not proclaim a one‐size‐fits‐all approach to ethnography (p. 15), but rather seeks to share a collection of some of the practical and ethical reflections generated through the group’s research.
Doing fieldwork in areas of Interntional intervention: a guide to research in violent and closed contexts
Using detailed insights from those with first-hand experience of conducting research in areas of international intervention and conflict, this antology provides essensial practical guidance for researchers and students embarking on fieldwork in violent, repressive and closed contexts. Coverning issues of control and confusion, security and risk, distance and closeness, and sex and sensitivity, the chapters discuss how to negotiate complex grey areas and raise important questions that researchers need to consider before, during and after their time on the ground.