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South and Central America

NUPI's research on South and Central America has focused on dynamics of international cooperation on peace and conflict, as well as on environmental governance.

The political stability of the region's democracies amidst domestic and global challenges is an issue that cuts across these topics. Norway's relationship to the countries in the region is an important aspect of all our research.
Publications
Publications
Lucas de Oliveira Paes, Matias Spektor, Marcos Fernandes, João Victor Dalla Pola, Victor Sion

Introducing the Latin American Transnational Surveillance (LATS) dataset

Transnational surveillance is a powerful tool in the arsenal of autocrats the world over. Despite its pervasive use in extraterritorial coercion, the systematic study of surveillance of regime opponents beyond national borders remains underdeveloped in political science, primarily due to limited data availability. To help fill this gap, we constructed the Latin American Transnational Surveillance dataset, a micro-level dataset based on declassified foreign surveillance reports produced between 1966 and 1986 by autocratic Brazil. Latin American Transnational Surveillance records the identity, locations, social ties and political activism of 17,000 individual targets of transnational surveillance, the vast majority of whom were tracked in neighbouring countries across Latin America. Drawing on these abundant data, we empirically explore existing theoretical insights about the motivations, methods and consequences of transnational surveillance, a task that would be difficult to do using other sources. We also leverage social network analysis to showcase potential applications of Latin American Transnational Surveillance in the testing of collective-action theories of transnational political violence.

  • South and Central America
Journal of peace research cover.jpg
  • South and Central America

Climate, Peace and Security Fact Sheet: Colombia

Colombia’s decades-long conflict culminated in the 2016 peace agreement between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which included aims to achieve peace through rural reform, reintegration of former combatants, addressing illicit crop cultivation, and ensuring land restitution and voluntary return for displaced individuals. However, the combination of non-state armed groups (NSAGs), entrenched violence, social inequality and environmental challenges continues to hinder progress, particularly in rural areas.
  • South and Central America
  • Conflict
  • Migration
  • Climate
  • United Nations
Articles
News
Articles
News

Climate, Peace and Security in Colombia

In a new fact sheet from the joint NUPI and SIPRI Climate-related Peace and Security Risks Project (CPSR), the team explore the nexus between climate change, peace and security in Colombia.
  • South and Central America
  • Peace, crisis and conflict
  • Conflict
  • Migration
  • Climate
  • United Nations
Publications
Publications
Report
Nadine Andersen, Farah Hegazi, Caroline Delgado, Katongo Seyuba, Kheira Tarif, Thor Olav Iversen, Ingvild Brox Brodtkorb

Climate, Peace and Security Fact Sheet: Colombia

Colombia’s decades-long conflict culminated in the 2016 peace agreement between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which included aims to achieve peace through rural reform, reintegration of former combatants, addressing illicit crop cultivation, and ensuring land restitution and voluntary return for displaced individuals. However, the combination of non-state armed groups (NSAGs), entrenched violence, social inequality and environmental challenges continues to hinder progress, particularly in rural areas. Since 2022, the current government has pursued a policy of ‘Total Peace’, alongside implementing the peace agreement. This includes peace talks with armed groups and addressing structural violence, racial discrimination, gender inequality, social inequalities and environmental concerns. This fact sheet focuses on how climate-related peace and security risks interact with specific provisions of the peace agreement, and provides an update on the situation since 2022.

  • South and Central America
  • Conflict
  • Migration
  • Climate
  • United Nations
SIPRI-NUPI Colombia Cover.png
  • South and Central America
  • Conflict
  • Migration
  • Climate
  • United Nations
Rain forest Photo Lucas_small for web.png
Research project
2024 - 2028 (Ongoing)

Rebundling sovereignty over local nature in global governance (RESOLVING)

How does the global governance of nature transform the exercise of sovereign power?...

  • Globalisation
  • Africa
  • South and Central America
  • Climate
  • Oceans
  • Governance
  • International organizations
  • Comparative methods
  • Globalisation
  • Africa
  • South and Central America
  • Climate
  • Oceans
  • Governance
  • International organizations
  • Comparative methods
Articles
News
Articles
News

PODCAST: Making Gender Great Again?

In this episode of the world stage we discuss the legacy of Colombia’s historic peace agreement.
  • Diplomacy
  • South and Central America
  • Humanitarian issues
  • Conflict
A woman stands in front of a mural depicting a white dove, a symbol of peace.
Research project
2024 - 2025 (Ongoing)

Women, Peace and Security: Status review and study on peace processes in Colombia and South Sudan

By carrying out a status review and study, this project will yield a better understanding of the influence of women in peace processes and Norway's contributions to the Women, Peace and Security ...

  • Development policy
  • Diplomacy
  • Foreign policy
  • Africa
  • South and Central America
  • Conflict
  • Nation-building
  • Insurgencies
  • United Nations
  • Development policy
  • Diplomacy
  • Foreign policy
  • Africa
  • South and Central America
  • Conflict
  • Nation-building
  • Insurgencies
  • United Nations
Media
Media
Media

BRICS - en allianse mot verden

BRICS utvidast. Russland overtar samstundes leiarskapen i organisasjonen som utfordrar Vesten. Kva kan skje? NUPI-forskar Julie Wilhelmsen er ein av deltakarane i denne samtala i NRK-programmet Debatt i P2.

  • Security policy
  • Europe
  • Russia and Eurasia
  • The Middle East and North Africa
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • South and Central America
Screenshot 2024-02-27 at 13.07.04.png
  • Security policy
  • Europe
  • Russia and Eurasia
  • The Middle East and North Africa
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • South and Central America
Publications
Publications
Research paper

The EU Trapped in the Venezuelan Labyrinth: Challenges to Finding a Way Out

This report explores how EU Foreign and Security Policy towards the political crisis in Venezuela can be assessed against the backdrop of diverging positions within the EU and as well as between the EU, the United States and other powers. The EU’s Venezuela policy has been anchored in three main pillars: first, supporting dialogue platforms between the government and the opposition; second, sanctioning the Maduro regime to force it to negotiate; and third, providing humanitarian aid helping neighbouring countries’ attend to the massive migratory flow of Venezuelans. Intra-EU contestation was linked to the recognition of opposition leader Guaidó as Venezuela’s interim president in 2019, but has eased since the EU dropped its recognition in 2021. Multipolar competition, and how it plays into patterns of regional fragmentation, has been another significant obstacle to the EU achieving its main foreign policy goal of free, fair and democratic elections. In the future, the EU approach should build on the renewed consensus between member states and focus on mediation, conditional sanctions relief, electoral observation, parliamentary diplomacy, support for regional governance and interregional cooperation.

  • Diplomacy
  • Foreign policy
  • Europe
  • South and Central America
  • The EU
joint_rp_18.jpg
  • Diplomacy
  • Foreign policy
  • Europe
  • South and Central America
  • The EU
Publications
Publications
Scientific article

Constraints, Dilemmas and Challenges for EU Foreign Policy in Venezuela

Years of increasingly authoritarian rule and economic mismanagement by President Nicolás Maduro have turned Venezuela into a source of regional instability. The European Union’s (EU) main foreign policy objective towards the country has been a peaceful transition to free and transparent elections and its re-introduction into regional and global trade and political frameworks. The strategies pursued by the EU to mitigate the constraints on its foreign policy towards Venezuela have helped to bring about more EU unity, but have failed to have a significant impact in the country itself. Multipolar competition between the EU and the United States (US) on the one hand and between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Russia on the other, have undermined the EU’s attempts to contribute a peaceful solution to the process. Most recently, the war on Ukraine has created a new dilemma for the EU in its dealings with Venezuela, that is, having to navigate between maintaining pressure on the Maduro regime, keeping up momentum for negotiations and deciding whether to follow the US in resuming oil trade with Caracas to mitigate the energy crisis in Europe.

  • Diplomacy
  • Foreign policy
  • Europe
  • South and Central America
  • The EU
TIS.PNG
  • Diplomacy
  • Foreign policy
  • Europe
  • South and Central America
  • The EU
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