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.
Non-Western Visions of International Order
The scholarship on the concept of order has been expanding within international relations. The continuous upheaval of world politics first triggered a broad debate on the resilience of the liberal international order (LIO), which then led to scholarship on alternative conceptions of order, especially outside of the West. This review focuses on this body of research on non-Western views of order. It is structured geographically, taking a tour of scholarship from and on East and Southeast Asia, Latin America, Africa, South Asia and the Indo-Pacific, and Eurasia. Although each region has its own intellectual traditions, we observe that these views portray the LIO in a less idealized form, exposing its hierarchical and Western-centered nature. However, while pushing for more inclusive and plural arrangements, these critiques have not yet amounted to the articulation of radical alternative ordering projects.
Sinikka Wasland Gjems
Sinikka Wasland Gjems is a research assistant in the Research Group for Eastern Europe and Asia. In June 2026 she completed her master’s degree in...
Charlotte Lysa
Charlotte Lysa is a Senior Research Fellow at NUPI and is part of the Research Group on Peace, Conflict and Development. She holds a PhD in Middle...
Neglecting Local Realities: the Negative Impact of Protection in Abyei
The United Nations Security Council created the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (unisfa) in June 2011 to monitor the ceasefire and the demilitarisation of Abyei. The deployment of unisfa has led scholars to argue that unisfa’s protection of civilian operations and predicted favourable troop-to-population ratios have contributed to its noticeable success. However, the dynamics in Abyei have changed over the last few years, with an increase in inter and intra-communal violence. This has acclimated the mission being faced with new forms of criminality, violence and actor dynamics—such as the use of local and neighbouring militia for hire. Drawing on an interpretivist analysis of data generated from the single case study of unisfa, the paper argues that unisfa’s inability to use force at the start to protect has led the mission over time to entrench itself further inwardly, leading to patterns of passive response(s) to protection matters. As a result, unisfa implementation of Protection of Civilians (poc), neglects localisation realities producing further negative effects. The overreliance on the two-dimensional lens inhibits the mission’s ability to tactical evaluate, pivot and redeploy diverse tools that can support a response to protection issues. Consequently, unisfa’s failure to adapt to an evolving conflict environment allows dissatisfied communities to take matters into their own hands, resulting in further loss of trust in the mission.
The United Nations–African Union Partnership and the Protection of Civilians
The landscape of peace operations in Africa has transformed over the past decade, including a marked increase in African-led peace support operations (PSOs). Since the early 2000s, the African Union (AU) and UN have evolved distinct, albeit parallel, conceptual and operational approaches to the protection of civilians (POC). While the UN views POC in peacekeeping as a whole-of-mission objective, with military, police, and civilian components prioritizing POC and proactively protecting civilians, the AU views itself as contributing to the protection of civilians primarily by neutralizing armed groups and establishing a protective environment. These differences raise important questions about how POC will be upheld in the context of the UN-AU partnership. This report examines the operational differences between UN and AU approaches to POC, assessing their respective advantages and limitations. It highlights how African-led PSOs tend to be more able and willing to use force to respond to outbreaks of violence and to contain aggressors but have less sustainable and flexible financing than UN peacekeeping operations. Meanwhile, UN peacekeeping missions with POC mandates have more robust civilian and police components but may lack rapid response capabilities. To strengthen their partnership on POC, the two organizations should leverage their comparative advantages, acknowledge their respective limitations, and work toward an approach to POC that is tailored to each context.
New frontiers of diplomacy: Building relationships with uncomfortable actors in a changing world
What constitutes effective and reliable diplomacy in today's world?
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.
Thea Virginia McConnell
Thea is a research assistant at NUPI in the Research group for defense and security, and a master’s student in political science at the University...