Czech and Norwegian perspectives on new security threats concerning Russian war on Ukraine
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has disrupted the world’s energy system. The most urgent need was to phase out the EU’s dependence on Russian energy imports and find a quick replacement. In this joint paper, we approach the issue from two different perspectives of the Czech Republic and Norway, looking for intersections and identifying opportunities to strengthen cooperation and facilitate the accelerated energy transition and diversification. We conclude that both countries have taken immediate action in addressing the most pressing energy-related risks. The potential for closer cooperation is obvious. Both countries should maximise the level of collaboration by taking advantage of existing institutional frameworks (NATO and EU/EEA). In the energy dimension, the key to cooperation in the short term is gas (investment in production in Norway, development of export pipelines or protecting critical sub-sea infrastructure). In the longer term, both countries should jointly cooperate on developing of hydrogen market, including production and transportation.
Room for Change? Premises of the EU's Space Policy
Since 2009, the EU’s space policy has, to a large extent, been grounded in principles linked to the EU’s climate and environmental agenda, based on a peaceful orientation toward the use of outer space. The ongoing transformation in Europe, where geopolitics has greater momentum, can be described as a shift away from the EU as a normative space actor, which has been the institutionalized premise of the EU’s space policy. The article problematizes the fact that, despite increased attention to security and defense in space policy, this shift does not materialize in practice. Drawing on institutional theory, the article discusses the factors that sustain stability and prevent rapid change, explaining how continuity in the EU’s space policy makes transformation difficult. Based on the EU’s two space strategies from 2016 and 2023, as well as interviews with space policy bureaucrats within the EU system, the article analyzes whether security and defense have become strengthened premises of the EU’s space policy. The findings are based on traceable structural and strategic shifts that may indicate significant change. The article further examines how the lack of operationalization in the EU’s space strategies, internal political disagreement among EU member states regarding the EU’s mandate, and technological lock-ins in the development of space capabilities challenge the EU’s ability to implement its defense and security agenda in its space policy. The findings show that the EU is not able to implement new security and defense ambitions in its space policy at the expected pace of the political leadership.
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.
Governing nature and the making of world order
How have efforts to govern nature and address urgent global environmental challenges shaped, transformed or undermined processes of world ordering? Chapters in this book explore how efforts to govern nature have transformed – or are transforming – how we understand and practice world politics. Bringing together a team of contributors from around the world, the book traces this inquiry across diverse international policy fields, from security and peacebuilding through science cooperation and governing ecosystems to the politics of economic growth. Taken together, the book offers a conceptually ambitious and empirically grounded account of how the governance of nature and the making of world order intertwine and calls for a research agenda to attend to the growing impact of this interrelationship.
Managing Climate, Peace and Security Risks in the Borderlands of the Lake Chad Region (CPS-Lake Chad)
This is a Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA) report for the research project on managing climate, peace and security risks in the borderlands of the Lake Chad Basin Region. An updated version was published 8 May 2026.
Benedicte Egjar Engesland
Benedicte is a Master’s student in Political Science at the University of Oslo and a research assistant at NUPI in the Research Group for Global O...
Altynai Klimova
Altynai Klimova is a Visiting Research Fellow from the OSCE Academy and will work with the Research Group on Climate and Energy. She holds a Maste...
Nore Ims
Nore is a research assistant at NUPI, affiliated with the Research group on security and defence. He finished his master’s in Peace and Conflict S...
Europe's Selective Blindness on Gas - US LNG and the Limits of Supply Diversification
The European Union (EU) aims to diversify its gas and oil supplies and is determined to end its energy imports from Russia, whose revenues finance its war of aggression against Ukraine. Yet, despite the rhetorical commitment to diversification, new EU legislation paradoxically treats energy sourced from any single country other than Russia as fully diversified. This risks to obscure Europe’s rapidly growing dependence on US LNG imports. When Norway is considered ‘indigenous’ due to its close integration and political alignment as part of the European Economic Area, this trend becomes even clearer, with over 59% of LNG imports coming from the US in 2025. Such dependence exposes Europe to the risk of high costs, price volatility and geopolitical pressures. The principal pathway to strengthening the EU’s strategic autonomy in the energy sector is the accelerated transition to an efficient energy system based on indigenous renewables. As long as the EU remains reliant on large amounts of imported energy resources, mitigating the associated risks will require genuine supplier diversification embedded within a broader energy security strategy. Such a strategy must rest on a sound definition of diversification and reflect today’s geopolitical realities.