Publikasjoner
The Crimean Aircraft Carrier. RUSSIAN FEDERATION MILITARIZATION OF THE BLACK SEA
This policy brief examines the role frozen conflicts play in Russian policy towards the Black Sea Region and measures that could be taken to limit the negative impact of this policy in the region.1 Its focus is on the four frozen conflicts existing in the post-Soviet space – Transnistria in Moldova, Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia, and Nagorno Karabakh in Azerbaijan, as well as on the more recent conflict in Eastern Ukraine that has many features characteristic of frozen conflicts and the aim is to demonstrate how these conflicts have been instrumentalized in Russian foreign and security policy and what needs to be done in policy terms to limit the negative impacts these conflicts have had and may have on the security situation in the region. The first section presents the general understanding of the frozen conflicts. The second part presents briefly the main parameters of frozen conflicts that have emerged and are still very much present in the post-Soviet space and in the broadly understood Black Sea Region. The third part focuses on the role of frozen conflicts in Russian foreign and security policy, and the fourth part presents some policy relevant conclusions and recommendations. The main preliminary conclusion is that these conflicts will most probably remain unsolved in the foreseeable future and that this will have a negative impact on the security situation in the region where Russia will still approach these conflicts in an instrumental manner as an issue that can give Russia some strategic advantages or at least prevent solution of these conflicts in a way that would reduce Russia’s strategic footprint in the region.
Koonings, Kees, Dirk Kruijt and Dennis Rodgers (eds.), Ethnography as risky business: field research in violent and sensitive contexts
Bokanmeldelse av antologien "Ethnography as risky business", redigert av Kees Koonings, Dirk Kruijt og Dennis Rodgers.
Doing fieldwork in areas of Interntional intervention: a guide to research in violent and closed contexts
Gjennom innsikt fra forskere som har omfattende erfaring med å forske og gjøre feltarbeid i regioner preget av internasjonal intervensjon og konflikt, byr denne boken på essensiell praktisk veiledning for forskere og studenter som skal ta fatt på feltarbeid i slike kontekster. Boken dekker tema som kontroll og forvirring, sikkerhet og risiko, avstand og nærhet og kjønn og sensitivitet, og diskuterer hvordan en balanserer i komplekse gråsoner. Boken tar også opp viktige spørsmål som forskerne bør ta hensyn til før, under og etter feltarbeidet.
EU migration management in the Sahel: unintended consequneces on the ground in Niger?
The policies implemented in the Sahel by the EU and individual member states have reduced the number of migrants transiting through the region towards Europe. However, the sustainability of this approach should be questioned as it may also increase domestic tensions in politically fragile and administratively weak states, leading to increased pressure on political and social systems that already are struggling to stay afloat. Thus, whereas making a country like Niger an integral partof European migration management may seem successful, the approach of the EU may also have several unintended consequences. This paper will critically examine the EU’s crisis response towards the Sahel with a particular focus on Niger and the city of Agadez, arguing that while EU’s approach may have reduced the number of migrants passing through Agadez, it could also come to undermine a number of local compromises that so far have helped Niger display higher resilience towards the crises that are quickly destabilising neighbouring Burkina Faso and Mali.
Arjun Chowdhury, The myth of international order: why weak states persist and alternatives to the state fade away
A book review of Arjun Chowdhury's 'The Myth of International Order'.
China’s EU policy in the pandemic era: A new normal?
Under pandemien har media og lekkasjer antydet en voksende aggressivitet fra Kina mot EU. Er dette et tegn på en ny normal i kinesisk EU-politikk, eller noe helt annet? For å finne et godt motsvar bør EU vurdere denne antatte aggressiviteten mot Kinas interesser på lang sikt. I sum undergraver aggressivitet Kinas utenrikspolitiske målsettinger, noe som kan hinte om at det er andre vurderinger som ligger til grunn for disse kinesiske representantene.
The “Faceless Evildoers” of Cabo Delgado: an Islamist Insurgency in Mozambique?
Chad’s Pivotal Role in the Regional Crisis
An analysis of Chad's regime role in the context of the military and humanitarian crisis in the Lake Chad Basin
Jihad globale o insurgency locale? L'ISIS in Africa, da Boko Haram allo Stato Islamico nel Grande Sahara