“Ambassador, you’re really spoiling us!” Diplomatic gifts and profligate autocrats
Qatar’s “unconditional” gift of a $400 million Boeing 747-8 to Donald Trump serves as a reminder that states have long used diplomatic gifts to impress others, forge bonds, and secure favorable treatment. However, in an age where citizens and media outlets routinely scrutinize public spending, there is good reason to think that not all governments are able to justify lavishing large sums on such interactions. In this paper, we test the claim that autocracies are less constrained in their diplomatic gift giving due to an absence of domestic accountability mechanisms. To evidence this, the authors draw on a dataset of diplomatic gifts presented to U.S. presidents from 2001 to 2018. The results show that autocratic regimes systematically spend more on diplomatic gifts than do democracies. Supplementary analyses suggest that this is, in part, due to new media in democracies being able to criticize profligate diplomatic practices. Interviews with Norwegian diplomats corroborate the importance of domestic media scrutiny in shaping diplomatic gift giving. The article contributes to scholarship that probes the relationship between regime type and public spending, by showing its relevance to diplomatic interactions.
Gull, gaver og goodwill: Diplomati med silkebånd
Hvorfor ga Qatar en Boeing 747 til en verdi av 400 millioner dollar til Donald Trump, mens Norge gjerne bare gir en liten glassisbjørn? I denne ep...
Who Killed the Liberal International Order and What Comes Next?
The Norwegian Centre for Geopolitics invites you to a lecture on the world's most urgent ‘whodunnit’: "Who Killed the Liberal International Order and What Comes Next?".
Environmental dimensions of conflict in the Lake Chad region
In this episode of the NUPI podcast The World Stage, Cedric de Coning (NUPI) sits down with Louise Lieberknecht (formerly GRID-Arendal) who is one...
EU, hav og geopolitikk
Framsenteret: Linda S. Dahlberg (UiT) og Alf Håkon Hoel (UiT) undersøker EUs rolle som geopolitisk stormakt i forvaltningen av havområder. Med 27 medlemsland, over fire millioner km² landmasse og 450 millioner innbyggere utgjør EU en betydelig makt også i maritim forstand. Forfatterne setter søkelys på hvordan geografi og naturgitte forhold legger føringer på EUs politikk og agering i havforvaltningen.
Alaska, not Greenland, should worry the United States in the Arctic
The Arctic Institute: Erdem Lamazhapov (FNI) and Andreas Østhagen (FNI) argue that the US is letting itself be distracted by Greenland. While China is planning to begin construction of yet another icebreaker this year and is conducting joint military exercises with Russia in the Arctic, the US Coast Guard has delayed the development of several icebreakers until around 2030, and chosen to focus on Greenland. The FNI researchers emphasise that China's emerging maritime power has changed the strategic significance of the North Pacific.
The Golden Age of Multilateralism Is Over
Foreign Policy Magazine: Jo Inge Bekkevold (IFS) focuses on the multilateral system that emerged after World War II unravelling before our eyes. He argues that there is a need for a serious debate about why the system is unravelling, whether it can be saved and what might potentially save it.
Autoritære regimer former nå verdenspolitikken - i et system skapt av Vesten
Aftenposten: Alexander Dukalskis (University College Dublin) og Alexander A. Cooley (Columbia University) konkluderer med at det er viktig at Norge forsvarer sine liberale prinsipper i en tid med demokratisk tilbakegang. De sier Norge bør styrke båndene til likesinnede demokratier, fortsette å investere i egne sivile institusjoner, medier og forskningsmiljøer for å bygge motstandskraft mot de nye illiberale påvirkningskrefter i en verden i endring.
Hybrid threats in high latitudes: Facing Russia on Svalbard
Kari Aga Myklebost (UiT), Stian Bones (UiT) and Thomas Nilsen (the Independent Barents Observer) explore Russia's sustained use of hybrid measures on Svalbard. They recommend Norway to meet this development with a two-pronged strategy that deters hybrid threats and strengthens Norwegian resilience through better institutional defences, increased public awareness, closer international cooperation and support for independent editorially governed media.