Skip to content
NUPI skole

The Middle East and North Africa

The conflicts and crises in the Middle East and North Africa are central themes in NUPI research on the region.

What roles do the emergent big powers play in these conflicts? How do great-power politics influence regional dynamics? These are central question that affect relations elsewhere around the globe, especially as regards energy issues. Developments in individual countries like Egypt, Syria and Iran are also followed closely by NUPI researchers, as are questions of the security situation in the area and how this is affected by actors and conflicts elsewhere in Africa.
Publications
Publications

Climate, Peace and Security Fact Sheet Sahel

The Sahel region is highly exposed to climate change, but national and local factors mean that climate change will have differentiated impacts across the region. The region will gradually become hotter, with some areas experiencing increased, but erratic, rainfall. The immediate effects of these trends may include irregular seasons, droughts and floods. Interacting with social, economic and political factors, these could exacerbate existing vulnerabilities and increase the risk of violent conflict: • Changing rainfall and seasonal patterns can sometimes fuel and compound violent conflict over limited or unevenly distributed resources. Women and girls are especially vulnerable. Across the Sahel, climate change may increase the risk of clashes between herders and farmers over access water and pastures. • Rapid-onset disasters and long-term climate change may force people to temporarily or permanently move, sometimes joining people displaced by armed conflicts. Migration is an important adaptation strategy, but it can lead to conflict between host and migrant communities. • Disasters and climate change erode resilience, increasing the vulnerability of communities to predation by armed groups and manipulation by elites. Some armed groups recruit from communities whose livelihoods are affected by factors including climate change; and local militias can escalate farmer–herder conflicts.

  • Security policy
  • The Middle East and North Africa
  • Africa
  • Peace operations
  • Conflict
  • Fragile states
  • Climate
  • United Nations
  • Security policy
  • The Middle East and North Africa
  • Africa
  • Peace operations
  • Conflict
  • Fragile states
  • Climate
  • United Nations
Publications
Publications

Fiche technique sur le climat, la paix et la sécurité au Sahel

La région du Sahel est fortement exposée au changement climatique. Toutefois, en raison de facteurs relevant des contextes national et local, ce dernier ura des impacts différenciés dans la région. Les températures deviendront progressivement plus élevées dans la région et certaines zones connaîtront es niveaux de précipitations accrus, mais irréguliers. Dans l’immédiat, ces tendances pourraient se traduire par des saisons irrégulières, des périodes de écheresse et des inondations. L’interaction avec des facteurs d’ordre social, économique et politique pourrait exacerber les vulnérabilités existantes et accroître les risques de conflits violents: • Les changements dans les régimes pluviométriques et les tendances saisonnières peuvent parfois attiser et exacerber des conflits violents dont l’enjeu st l’accès à des ressources limitées ou inégalement réparties. Les femmes et les filles sont particulièrement vulnérables. Partout au Sahel, le changement climatique peut accentuer le risque d’affrontements entre éleveurs et agriculteurs autour de l’accès à l’eau et aux pâturages. • Les catastrophes d’apparition soudaine et le changement climatique à long terme peuvent forcer des populations à se déplacer de manière temporaire ou permanente et parfois à rejoindre des personnes déplacées par des conflits armés. La migration est une importante stratégie d’adaptation qui peut toutefois entraîner des conflits entre communautés d’accueil et communautés de migrants. • Les catastrophes et le changement climatique entraînent une érosion de la résilience, aggravant ainsi la vulnérabilité des communautés aux prédations de groupes armés et aux manipulations opérées par les élites. Certains groupes armés recrutent dans des communautés dont les moyens de subsistance sont affectés par des facteurs comme le changement climatique. Par ailleurs, les milices locales peuvent aggraver les conflits entre agriculteurs et éleveurs.

  • Security policy
  • The Middle East and North Africa
  • Africa
  • Peace operations
  • Conflict
  • Fragile states
  • Climate
  • International organizations
  • United Nations
  • Security policy
  • The Middle East and North Africa
  • Africa
  • Peace operations
  • Conflict
  • Fragile states
  • Climate
  • International organizations
  • United Nations
Articles
News
Articles
News

Climate, Peace and Security in the Sahel region

NUPI and SIPRI, under the Climate-related Peace and Security Risks project have worked on understanding the interlinkages between climate, peace and security in the Sahel-region.

  • Security policy
  • The Middle East and North Africa
  • Africa
  • Peace operations
  • Conflict
  • Fragile states
  • Climate
  • International organizations
  • United Nations
Articles
News
Articles
News

The link between climate, peace and security in Mali

NUPI and SIPRI, under the Climate-related Peace and Security Risks project have worked on understanding the interlinkages between climate, peace and security in Mali. Read more in a new fact sheet which contains recommendations on addressing climate change.

  • Security policy
  • The Middle East and North Africa
  • Africa
  • Peace operations
  • Conflict
  • Climate
  • International organizations
  • United Nations
Publications
Publications

Climate, Peace and Security Fact Sheet Mali

Mali is characterised by short-term climate variability, and is vulnerable to long-term climate change due to high exposure to the adverse effects of climate change, but also high population growth, diminished resilience and multiple violent conflicts. Mali is forecast to become hotter with more erratic rainfall, impacting seasonal regularity and increasing the risk of droughts and floods. Moreover, conflict, political instability and weak government institutions undermine effective adaptation to climate change.

  • Security policy
  • The Middle East and North Africa
  • Africa
  • Peace operations
  • Conflict
  • Climate
  • International organizations
  • United Nations
  • Security policy
  • The Middle East and North Africa
  • Africa
  • Peace operations
  • Conflict
  • Climate
  • International organizations
  • United Nations
Publications
Publications
Patryk Kugiel, Viljar Haavik, Morten Bøås

Much Ado About Very Little? Migration-Linked Development Assistance — the Cases of Poland and Norway

In response to the migration management crisis that peaked in Europe in 2015-2016, the EU institutions and some European states promised to address the “root causes of migration”, with development assistance seen as an important tool in that respect. By comparing the development cooperation policies of Poland and Norway, this paper shows how the development-migration nexus has been implemented in practice by new and traditional donors alike. Despite important differences at the rhetorical level, neither state has substantially changed their development cooperation to link it directly to migration interests. This demonstrates the limited usefulness of the “root causes of migration” approach.

  • Security policy
  • Development policy
  • Foreign policy
  • Europe
  • The Middle East and North Africa
  • Africa
  • Humanitarian issues
  • Migration
  • Theory and method
  • Security policy
  • Development policy
  • Foreign policy
  • Europe
  • The Middle East and North Africa
  • Africa
  • Humanitarian issues
  • Migration
  • Theory and method
Articles
Analysis
Articles
Analysis

How do journalists in the Middle East cope with political pressure?

All over the world, media-owners and lobbyists use journalists and the media as political tools for their own ends. How do journalists cope with this? A NUPI project has examined this issue in Tunisia and Lebanon.

  • The Middle East and North Africa
  • Conflict
  • Governance
Journalister demonstrerer og holder opp plakater i Tunisia.
Gabriella Kristine Kattil Bolstad

Gabriella Kristine Kattil Bolstad

Former employee

Gabriella Kristine Bolstad was a Junior Research Fellow in NUPI’s Research Group on Security and Defence. Additionally, Bolstad worked in the Cons...

  • Defence
  • Security policy
  • Terrorism and extremism
  • Foreign policy
  • Europe
  • The Middle East and North Africa
  • Asia
  • Conflict
  • The EU
  • Defence
  • Security policy
  • Terrorism and extremism
  • Foreign policy
  • Europe
  • The Middle East and North Africa
  • Asia
  • Conflict
  • The EU
Event
16:00 - 17:30
Microsoft Teams
Engelsk
Event
16:00 - 17:30
Microsoft Teams
Engelsk
21. Apr 2021
Event
16:00 - 17:30
Microsoft Teams
Engelsk

Children in Violent Extremist Organizations

Terrorist organizations, like ISIS, Hamas and the Taliban have exploited children for years. This seminar takes a closer look at the different ways in which these groups recruit and deploy children.

Publications
Publications
Scientific article

Hybrid Media and Hybrid Politics: Contesting Informational Uncertainty in Lebanon and Tunisia

This paper investigates the dynamic relationship between hybrid media and hybrid politics in Lebanon and Tunisia. While previous research on the media in hybrid regimes has mainly focused on regime strategies of restricting and manipulating public debate, our analysis moves beyond repression. We argue that the ambiguities of hybrid politics, which combines democratic and authoritarian elements, not only constrain independent and critical reporting but also open up opportunities for journalistic agencies. We draw on Schedler’s concept of informational uncertainty to capture the epistemological instability of hybrid regimes and the strategies of political actors to control public knowledge. Distinguishing between three dimensions of media hybridity - economic, cultural and technological - we show how the new hybrid media environment significantly increases the volatility of hybrid politics and informational uncertainty for political actors. Our empirical analysis is based on seventy-one semistructured interviews with journalists in Lebanon and Tunisia conducted between 2016 and 2019. The material reveals a broad range of strategies used by journalists who employ the internal contradictions of hybrid politics to pursue their own agenda. The comparison between Lebanon and Tunisia also highlights contextual conditions that enable, or limit, journalistic agency, such as clientelistic dependencies, economic resources, and civil society alliances.

  • The Middle East and North Africa
  • Governance
  • The Middle East and North Africa
  • Governance
61 - 70 of 229 items