“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.
“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?".
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.
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.
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?".
Environmental dimensions of conflict in the Lake Chad region
This report illuminates the environmental dimensions of conflict in the Lake Chad region by examining how insecurity impacts the environment and how conflict dynamics are shaped by environmental factors. It is a contribution to the CPS-Lake Chad Project, a partnership led by NUPI to study the effectiveness of the Regional Strategy for the Stabilisation Resilience and Recovery (RS-SRR). The report draws from published literature, field reports by project partners, remotely conducted interviews with regional experts, and satellite image analysis.