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.
Not What to Have, but How to Have It: Japan’s Debate on Acquiring Counterstrike Capabilities 2016-2023
Wrenn Yennie Lindgren (NUPI) and Charlotte Børing (UD) shed light on Japan's historical rearmament and how parliamentary debates in the country are increasingly discussing the use and implementation of counterstrike capabilities.
Nordic Perspectives on Arctic Security
Andreas Østhagen (FNI) and Andreas Raspotnik (FNI) have written a chapter on the Norwegian perspectives on security in the Arctic in The Arctic at a Crossroads: The Making of a New Frontier. The chapter sheds light on how the Arctic region has over recent decades attracted global interest due to its climatic, economic and political changes.
Reacting to a Geopolitical Setback: NATO expansion in Sweden and Finland through the lens of Russian Geopolitical Culture
Matthew Blackburn (NUPI) analyses Russian geopolitical culture, and points out that the discourse surrounding the NATO enlargements in the north (Sweden and Finland) has been characterised by realism and pragmatism, not only by threat deterrence and securitisation as it is often portrayed.
Who killed the liberal international order and what comes next?
The Norwegian Centre for Geopolitics and NUPI invite you to a lecture on the world's most urgent ‘whodunnit’: "Who Killed the Liberal International Order and What Comes Next?".
The Chinese are Coming! US Think Thanks and the Belt and Road Initative in the Middle East and North Africa
Neil Ketchley (University of Oxford), Moren S. Andersen (NUPI) and Ole Jacob Sending (NUPI) shed light on the consequences of American think tanks portraying China's Belt and Road Initiative as a significant threat to American interests in the Middle East and North Africa, even though Chinese projects there are still relatively small. This perceived threat is used to strengthen and justify existing American foreign policy goals, even in regions where Chinese influence is still limited.
Keep All the Flawed Options on the Table: Europe’s Nuclear Future
In light of Trump's policies, Europe must reassess its defense capabilities. Henrik Stålhane Hiim (IFS) argues that Europe's best strategy is to combine continued American protection with strengthened European deterrence; this includes British-French nuclear cooperation, the build-up of conventional forces, and potentially nuclear latent capabilities in selected countries.