China’s multilateral stretch: Crafting influence with international organizations
China’s rise as a multilateral power is stirring reactions internationally, with many actors worrying about Chinese influence over specific international organizations (IOs), and its rippling effects on multilateral governance overall. In this brief, we discuss how and why China is working to craft its proactive IO diplomacy, by building position in many established and development oriented IOs, especially, and by initiating new institutions, incorporating to wide range of relations and issues. We show how expanding engagements within the UN and other multilateral arenas demonstrate China’s readiness to both follow, modify, and ignore established rules and norms, while working to ensure that multilateral institutions better reflect Chinese interests and conditions.
Kulturkampene i USA og betydning for politisk klima og utenrikspolitikk
I denne analysen skal vi se nærmere på den underliggende interne dynamikken for kulturkampene. Vi begynner med venstresiden før vi ser på høyresiden og til slutt spør om dette også kan få betydning for amerikansk utenrikspolitikk.
Focus on Africa: Security in West Africa
Dr Andrew E. Yaw Tchie discusses recent peace and security developments in West Africa (from min. 32:08).
‘Global Britain’ and security in the near abroad. Leadership through flexilateralism?
The British government’s vision for a post-Brexit ‘Global Britain’ is increasingly taking shape in (i) the security and defence domain and (ii) the UK’s near abroad. Recent policy documents highlight how the UK sees a strengthened role for itself in tackling security and defence challenges in the Euro-Atlantic region, including in the High North and Arctic. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the UK has increased its security and defence engagement in the Euro-Atlantic region further. While NATO continues to be the key security framework, the UK increasingly resorts to British-led formats like the Northern Group and the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), along with bi- and trilateral engagements. With JEF-members Finland and Sweden set to join NATO, there is a potential for JEF to take on a more explicit role as a supporting instrument for the alliance, but also to function as an informal political consultation forum prior to action being taken.
A Governance and Risk Inventory for a Changing Arctic
Background Paper for the Arctic Security Roundtable at the Munich Security Conference 2020
Waging Peace, towards an Africa Union Stabilisation Strategy for Somalia
Over the last few years, successful military operations across Somalia have helped to unshackle towns south of Mogadishu from al Shabaab, demonstrating the capacity of the African Union Mission to Somalia (amisom) to achieve parts of its mandate. However, friction between the Federal Government of Somalia and the Federal Member States have heightened tensions and rifts over elections, state management and overall security, despite significant international support. Despite amisom s efforts, the legacies of the 1990s civil war have remained unresolved, and state restoration has been disrupted by political, clannish, environmental and structural challenges. In contrast, al Shabaab remains adaptable, resilient and exploits grievances, local dynamics, and competition over resources. This paper argues, the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council needs to re-mandate and reinforce amisom in conjunction with an AU stabilisation strategy for Somalia which exploits experiences from the AU’s Regional Stabilisation Strategy for the Lake Chad Basin.
Sverige, Finland og NATO.
Våre naboland Sverige og Finland har alltid stått utenfor forsvarsalliansen NATO, men da Russland angrep Ukraina endret svensk og finsk politikk seg på kort tid. "Dette er en god dag i en kritisk tid for vår sikkerhet", sa NATO-sjef Jens Stoltenberg da han mottok søknadene om medlemskap fra Sverige og Finland i mai. Hvordan vil dette påvirke sikkerhetspolitikken i Norden?
End of an era: Future of Nordic security from a Finnish perspective
With the full-scale attack on Ukraine, Russia crossed a red line for Finland, prompting the country to abandon its long-term military non-alignment policy and seek NATO membership. Finland is thus moving away from the decades-long emphasis on good relations with its eastern neighbour and instead towards the clearest possible deterrence posture. The now coherent Alliance membership of all five Nordic countries will unlock new ambition levels in the regional framework of NORDEFCO that were hitherto blocked by Finland and Sweden remaining outside of the NATO command structure.