Doing Less With More? The Difficult ‘Return’ of Western Troop Contributing Countries to United Nations Peacekeeping
Among others, the deployment of the UN stabilization mission to Mali (MINUSMA) in 2013 has been characterized by a number of researchers as a ‘return’ of Western troop contributors to United Nations (UN) peacekeeping in Africa. The aim of this report is to look at the reality of that ‘return,’ and whether it has enhanced the effectiveness of UN peacekeeping overall and of the UN mission in Mali in particular. In policy and academic circles, the return has been hailed as an opportunity for Western member states to contribute niche capabilities such as ISRs including surveillance drones, military transport and attack helicopters, special forces, and to share experiences and practices developed over a long period of counterinsurgency and counterterrorism warfare in e.g. Afghanistan and Iraq. In Mali, the UN mission is mired in a situation where these experiences were considered as relevant, all the more so as some considered that new UN peacekeeping missions could be deployed to Libya, Somalia, Syria, or in Yemen, thereby making Mali a key testing ground for the future from this perspective. However, while Western countries may indeed have lessons to share, the report argues that so far their contribution to MINUSMA has been a very mixed blessing. The report explores these challenges and impact of them on the effectiveness of UN peacekeeping, defined as the ability to sustain peace over time.
The WTO Reference Paper meets EU common regulatory policy in CETA
International trade and investment in telecommunications are governed by the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and its Annex and Reference Paper (RP) on telecommunications. This paper discusses whether the 25-year old WTO framework is still fit for purpose. It makes two contributions to the literature. First, it offers a systematic comparison between the provisions in the RP, the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and EU common regulatory framework. GATS builds on an outdated classification of telecommunications which is repeated in the CETA. The RP obliges countries to regulate interconnection, which is also largely repeated in CETA, although regulatory forbearance is permitted. CETA does not offer new market access in telecommunications to either party. Second, the paper investigates empirically whether binding regulation in trade agreements strengthen market openness, measured by imports of telecommunications services, and finds that it does not. The paper concludes that trade agreements may not be suitable for international cooperation on telecommunications regulation. Trade agreements run the risk of making regulation hostage to unrelated trade policy issues while adopting the RP runs a risk of legal obligations to over-regulate telecommunications.
The EU’s role in a more instable world – towards a shared Grand Strategy?
The opinions on which role the EU should play in international politics differ. How will 2020 turn out for the Union, and what role will it pursue in the future?
Alessio Iocchi
Alessio Iocchi was a Senior Research Fellow in NUPI's Research group on peace, conflict and development.
Introduction
The special issue discusses journalism and the challenge of democracy in transitional countries in Africa. We present in-depth treatments of the role of journalism in Zimbabwe and South Africa’s break with colonialism, Somalia’s breakdown after the fall of Siad Barré in the early 1990s and the recent uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. Political transitions open a time window during which the media system is in flux and actors try to influence it per their interests. What role does journalism play in such processes, and how do they in turn affect journalists?
Etter brexit: Storbritannia, Europa - og Norge
Guest lecture for Arendal Senior University, about how brexit will influence Britain's international role, intra-European dynamics and Norwegian foreign policy.
Brexit, Europa - og Norge
Lecture on the Brexit-process, and implications for Europe and Norwegian foreign policy. Part of the Norwegian Atlantic Committee's annual course in International Politics, held in Norway's seven largest cities.
Between vulnerability and risk? Mental health in UK counter-terrorism
The relationship between terrorism and mental health has been a scholarly concern for decades. So far, the literature has concentrated on the relationship between terrorism and diagnosable disorders, and the prevalence of certain psychological traits among terrorist offenders. Meanwhile, the incorporation of perspectives regarding mental health in the operational space of counter-terrorism has been largely ignored. This article explores three current approaches to individual mental health in UK counter-terrorism: the use of ‘appropriate adults’ in terrorism-related cases; the ‘mental health hubs’ introduced in 2016; and counter-terrorism-related risk and vulnerability assessments. The article argues that in light of the UK’s new counter-terrorism strategy, these practices show an increasing merger between conceptualisations of vulnerabilities and risks in how UK counter-terrorism approaches mental health.
From Direct Financing to Secularization: Rethinking State Policy towards Religious Institutions in Georgia
This policy paper aims at critically evaluating current policies of state funding for religious organizations in Georgia, arguing that the existing approach needs reassessment and reform. The paper argues that the current policies go beyond the frames of compensation of damage caused during the Soviet era, described in the 2002 Constitutional Agreement between State of Georgia and the Orthodox Autocephaly Church of Georgia. Regardless of the Agreement, the amounts of damage and compensation have not been calculated and yearly funding depends on the political will of the government, leaving ample room for arbitrary decisions. Moreover, the current policies are discriminatory, privileging the Orthodox Church, discriminating against religious minorities, and therefore jeopardizing the principles of secularism, religious freedom, and religious neutrality. This policy paper advances the argument that, considering the principle of secularism and religious neutrality, as well as the Constitution of Georgia, Georgian policymakers must rethink the existing policies of state funding to religious organizations and elaborate medium- and long-term strategies to refine the existing approach. Rather than maintaining the existing funding policies or eliminating state funding for religious organizations altogether, the state should take specific steps towards reforming the current legislation and practices. Specifically, the paper argues that, in the medium term, the state can ensure damage compensation for injustices experienced in the Soviet era after calculating the total amount of monetary or other support, as in the case of Hungary. In the longer term, support to religious institutions can be made voluntary, based on one’s belief (or non-belief), rather than political will of the authorities, as in the cases of Spain, Iceland, Finland, and Denmark.