Governance
Governance is about which political institutions a society have, the processes these are involved in, and their governing behavior.
A country is deemed to be ‘democratic’ if the political leadership is chosen by means of free elections – but to qualify as a true democracy, there must also be a well-functioning legal system and respect for human rights.Contrary to democracies we have dictatorial or authoritarian countries. The less authority citizens in a society wield, the more authoritarian the country is deemed.
At NUPI, research on governance examine various forms of government to understand better the ways in which countries may be authoritarian or democratic, as well as the consequences of different types of governance for the economy and living conditions.
Questions in focus include:
- Why do democratic states less often go to war with each other?
- What can influence the economy to shift from an authoritarian to a democratic form of governance?
- Why is famine less common in democracies?
News about governance
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Key climate research severely underfunded
7 Jan 2020Researchers from NUPI and the University of Sussex analysed USD 1.3 trillion of research funding. From 1990 to 2018 only 0.12% of the funding was spent on a critical issue: how to change societies to mitigate climate change.
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PODCAST: Why populism? Why here? Why now?
26 Sep 2019Are we living through a populist moment, or is the term just a journalistic cliché?
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Tax and fragile states: Challenges for Norwegian development assistance
10 Sep 2019States need revenue to function and an efficient tax system plays an important role. Can Norwegian development assistance contribute to this?
Publications about governance
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Publication
: Academic article
Introduction
2020The 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... -
Publication
: Academic article
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... -
Publication
: Academic article
Fighting Violence Against Women: Laws, Norms & Challenges Ahead
In the 1990s and 2000s, pressure from feminist movements and allies succeeded in pushing scores of states to reform their laws to prevent and punish violence against women (VAW). Even in states with progressive legislation, however, activists face challenges to induce citizens to comply with the law,...
Research projects about governance
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Foto: Jørn Rune Buljo/NUPI
Research projectJOINT EFFORT: To receive project funding from the EU's research programme H2020 is quite the accomplishment. These five succeeded, and is, together with NUPI colleagues Tine Gade and Kjetil Selvik as well as an international team of partners, ready to start working on the PREVEX project. From left: Kari Osland (Senior Research Fellow), Morten Bøås (project initiatior and Research Professor), Pernille Rieker (Research Professor), Andrea Myhrbraaten (Advisor) and Henriette U. Erstad (Research Fellow). Bård Drange, former NUPI employee, now PhD candidate at PRIO, was also part of the team who drafted the application.
Preventing Violent Extremism in the Balkans and the MENA: Strengthening Resilience in Enabling Environments (PREVEX)
2020 - 2023 (Ongoing)The overarching objective of PREVEX is to put forward more fine-tuned and effective approaches to preventing violent extremism.
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Foto: NTB Scanpix
Research projectSTRONGER POSITION: China is changing, strengthening and expanding its engagements. The image shows a meeting between World Bank President Jim Yong Kim and Chinese President Xi Jinping in July 2018.
China and Multilateral Development Banks (KINMDB)
2018 (Completed)How and why is China strengthening its position in the major development banks?
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Research project
Common Fear Factors in Foreign Policy (COMFEAR)
2019 - 2020 (Ongoing)COMFEAR aims to identify key issues of common concern and shared threats as perceived by publics and policymakers in Czechia and Norway.