Strategic cooperation against terrorism 2.0? Collaborating with adversaries. 2:2
In October 2016, international media reported that the Russia– US diplomatic dialogue over Syria had collapsed, with both sides holding the other party to blame. While the US State Department observed that ‘everybody’s patience with Russia has run out’, Russia’s Foreign Minister criticized the United States for using ‘a language of sanctions and ultimatums while continuing selective cooperation with our country’ (CNN 2016). The breakdown and the statements that ensued marked the endpoint of a turbulent diplomatic year, which had begun with a brief handshake between presidents Obama and Putin at the UN General Assembly late in September 2015. In the months following that handshake, Russia and the US-led coalition participated in talks and activities aimed at finding a negotiated solution to the civil war in Syria as well as to defeat international terrorism there.
Norsk forsvarspolitikk. Territorialforsvar og internasjonal innsats 1990-2015
Norsk forsvarspolitikk har gjennomgått store omstillinger siden den kalde krigens slutt, spesielt i perioden 1990–2005. Regjering og Storting sendte stadig flere soldater til fredsbevarende og fredsopprettende operasjoner i utlandet, mens Forsvaret selv fremdeles hadde forsvar av landet som sitt primære fokus. Forfatter Græger viser hvordan kaldkrig-tenkningen og etablerte praksiser i forsvaret og forsvarsmiljøer lenge bremset en politisk ønsket omstilling fra invasjonsforsvar til innsatsforsvar tilpasset internasjonale operasjoner. Boken viser hvordan norsk utenriks-, sikkerhets- og forsvarspolitikk er tett sammenvevet, og stadig utfordres av endringer i trusselbildet og i NATO, men løfter også fram de nasjonale forutsetningene for handling. Forfatteren har analysert debatter både på Stortinget og innen Forsvaret, og kombinerer dette med studier av hvordan forsvarspolitikken utformes i praksis – blant annet gjennom langtidsplanlegging, militær utdanning og profesjonsutvikling. Boken tilfører ny kunnskap om forhold av vesentlig betydning for norsk forsvars- og sikkerhetspolitikk.
Makt og avmakt i cyberspace: hvordan styre det digitale rom?
A secure cyberspace is a necessity for the functioning of the economic, political and social structures of modern-day society. The stability and development of cyberspace is not preordained, but something that has to be facilitated. Cyberspace is constantly changing and to govern the complex set of interests, agendas and implications multistakeholder initiatives that promote cooperation between the public and private sector and civil society are increasingly put forth as the solution. This form for cooperation is widely seen in the policy community as a panacea for securing cyberspace. While academics have questioned these initiatives’ functionality, few have studied why they do not work in practice. By focusing on the power dynamics between the different actors this article takes a step towards understanding how these dynamics create conflict of interest in governing cyberspace. Through case studies of multistakeholder initiatives on the international level and in Norway, this paper argues that these initiatives are implemented without the necessary preconditions for such a form of governance. This article is published in Norwegian.
Limits and possibilities for Russia-Western security collaboration in Syria (Russia-West in Syria)
This project examines the prospects for Russia-Western practical cooperation against the Islamic State (IS) in Syria and, more broadly, for a rapprochement between Russia, NATO and key...
Private Force and the Making of States, c. 1100-1500
This chapter shows how the distinction between the public and the private emerges with respect to the use of force in conjunction with the long rise of the state in Europe. In drawing a historical conceptual analysis of the changing organization of military power in the making of states, I show why we need to take an empirical rather than an ideological approach to the distinction between different types of force, as only then can we hope to understand why and for what purposed power was organized in specific ways, and the consequences of that organization. The chapter takes as its starting point the late eleventh century, a period when public authorities had been decimated throughout Christendom and where kings no longer held the aura of public authority, but were (private) contestants for public authority on equal footing with their competitors. Both public and private force was private, so to speak. I proceed in five sections. The first addresses the relationship between war-making and state-making, a relationship which is central to much of the literature on state formation and to our further discussion. The next three sections address the chronology of changes in the organization of force, and move from warfare as a knightly (largely) private enterprise to the wars of mercenaries, culminating in the early attempts at holding standing permanent armies around the late fifteenth century. The claim is not that this process was linear or inevitable, and, as demonstrated in the last section, the centralization of the legitimate means of warfare in the hands of public authorities did not mean the end of private enterprise in a world of states. Rather, private enterprise continued alongside public force, albeit in a different character.
Private force and the emergence of the international system
This chapter deals with the importance of private force to the early emergence and spread of the international system. It discusses how varieties of non-traditional forms of force helped maintain what was in many ways an international system of empires. The chapter focuses on the rules, norms and values of the system and shows how the gradual abolishment of private force has helped foster ideational cohesion in the international system. It also focuses on modes of interaction, and on how an unintended consequence of the use of private force has been a functionalist push for a tighter integrated system. The chapter also deals with mercenarism, privateering and piracy, the most important forms of private force for the emergence of the international system. It concludes that private force should be understood as one of the central productive forces in the gradual emergence of the modern international system.
Conclusion: The EU, Energy, and Global Power Shifts
This edited collection focuses on the impact of the changing global distribution of power on the EU's energy policy and ability to project its approach to energy-related issues abroad. The authors map the EU's energy governance, its changing global position and the impact of various factors on its capacity to pursue its interests in the field of energy. They also provide insights into the internal and external energy policy of the EU, and explores how various EU institutions shape energy policy. They examine, moreover, the state of the EU's relations with its external energy suppliers, such as Russia, and with other global energy actors, such as China, the main global consumer of energy; the USA, which is going through a technologically-driven energy revolution; and Brazil, which may become a key global energy player.
The Russo–Ukraine crisis and the role of EU
In this seminar, we will present the results from the research project “The Russo–Ukraine crisis and the role of EU”. This research has focused on the role of EU in the Ukraine conflict and the implications for Norway.