Researcher
John Karlsrud
Contactinfo and files
Summary
Dr. John Karlsrud is a Research Professor and Head of the Research group on peace, conflict and development.
Karlsrud earned his PhD at the University of Warwick. He is a member of the Editorial Boards of the journals Internasjonal Politikk and Contemporary Security Policy. Karlsrud has been a Visiting Fulbright Fellow at the Center on International Cooperation at New York University, and a Visiting Research Fellow at the International Peace Institute.
Topics of particular interests are norm change, peacekeeping, peacebuilding and humanitarian issues. He previously served as Special Assistant to the United Nations Special Representative in Chad and as part of the UN Development Programme’s leadership programme LEAD.
He has worked in Bosnia and Hercegovina, Chad, Palestine (West Bank), Norway and USA, and conducted field research and shorter missions to Haiti, Liberia, Mozambique, Serbia, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and Ukraine.
Expertise
Education
2014 Senior Executive Course 13, Norwegian Defence University College, Aug-Nov 2014
2010-2014 Ph.D., Politics and Internationals Studies, University of Warwick. Title: Linked Ecologies and Norm Change in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations
2005 Master of Peace and Conflict Studies / International Affairs with Distinction Joint Master from Institute for Graduate Studies in International Affairs, Australian National University and the Peace Research Centre of Oslo
Work Experience
2020- Head of the Reserach group on peace, conflict and development
2015- External Associate, Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation, University of Warwick 2015 Fulbright Visiting Fellow, Center on International Cooperation, New York University
2015 Visiting Fellow, International Peace Institute
2012 Lecturer, IR Master
2010- Programme Manager and Senior Research Fellow at Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI)
2010- Senior Research Fellow, NUPI
2008-2010 Special Assistant to the Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG), United Nations Mission in Chad and the Central African Republic (MINURCAT), Chad
2006-2008 Policy and Strategy Analyst, Strategic and Regional Initiatives Unit (SRIU), Regional Bureau for Africa (RBA), UNDP New York HQ
2005-2006 Researcher and Assistant to the Managing Director, Fafo Institute for Applied International Studies (AIS)
2002-2003 Liaison and Operations Officer for NATO in Bosnia and Hercegovina (BiH), seconded by the Norwegian Army
Aktivitet
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Clear all filtersUN Peacekeeping Operations in a Multipolar Era
How is multipolarity impacting on UN peacekeeping operations? This article sets out to answer this question by examining the ongoing decline in UN peacekeeping operations and the concurrent rise of regional and ad hoc coalitions in an era of increasing geopolitical competition. The article argues that coalitions have significantly less focus on human rights, international humanitarian law, and the protection of civilians. They thus represent a shift away from the liberal values that have marked UN peacekeeping operations, and are coherent with current geopolitical shifts where China is chipping away at human rights at the UN and African states are increasingly voicing a need for more robust operations. The article concludes that the likely outcome of these trends is a continued decline of UN multidimensional peacekeeping, but that coalitions may receive logistical and administrative support from the UN peace operations machinery.
Ad hoc coalitions are increasingly charged to tackle international crises
Ad hoc coalitions in global governance: short-notice, task- and time-specific cooperation
Ad hoc coalitions (AHCs) are an indispensable but scantly conceptualized part of global governance. In recent years, several typologies and classifications of global governance arrangements have been provided, mostly differentiating them based on their organizational design features of degree of formality and membership composition. These do not capture AHCs and the role they play in global governance. In this article, we not only provide a conceptualization of AHCs, but also propose ways in which AHCs fit within the broader global governance architecture. We argue that what sets AHCs apart is not so much their (in)formality or membership, but rather their short-notice creation, their task-specific purpose and their temporarily circumscribed existence. We therefore define AHCs as autonomous arrangements with a task-specific mandate established at short notice for a limited time frame. We then develop a research agenda on the nature and future of AHCs, including their short- and long-term relationship with other multilateral arrangements in the global governance architecture. This is important, as we do yet not know how AHCs complement, compete and impact on international organizations and international crisis response.
Libya after Gaddafi: What went wrong, and what role did Norway play?
Ian Martin, the UN’s former representative in Libya, critically reflects on the international intervention in 2011, and subsequent events.
Big EU project to NUPI
Ad Hoc Crisis Response and International Organisations (ADHOCISM)
International organisations (IOs) are created with the aim of solving collective action problems when a crisis arises. Yet, member states have repeatedly established ad hoc crisis responses in situations where IOs might be expected to play a central role. ADHOCISM asks what is the impact of ad hoc crisis responses on international organisations? In this way, ADHOCISM wants to contribute to filling this knowledge gap through a systematic study of ad hoc crisis responses in two policy domains: security and health. With this paired comparison, ADHOCISM wants to tap into a broader empirical governance phenomenon. Ad hoc crisis responses are here understood as loose groups of actors that agree to solve a particular crisis at a given time and location outside of an existing international organisation in the same policy domain. Ad hoc crisis reponses can, in the short-term, lead to more rapid and effective crisis responses among like-minded states, but if international organisations are no longer seen as the principal instruments to confront global challenges, the risk is also that the relevance of these international organisations will diminish, and similar trends may unfold in other domains.
UN Peacekeeping and the Kindleberger Trap
I nærmere et tiår har FN vært under press på grunn av et stort antall fataliteter, samt press fra medlemsstater om å kutte kostnader, særlig fra USA. Siden 2013 har ikke FN iverksatt noen nye store fredsbyggingsprosjekter, mens større prosjekter har blitt avsluttet i Côte d’Ivoire, Darfur, Haiti, Liberia og Sierra Leone. På det afrikanske kontinentet gjenstår fire store prosjekt - i Den sentralafrikanske republikk (SAR, MINUSCA), Den demokratiske republikken Kongo (DR Kongo, MONUSCO), Mali (MINUSMA) og Sør-Sudan (UNMISS). Også disse er under press for å kutte kostnader.
Future of UN Peace Operations: UN Support Offices to Regional Counterterrorism Operations?
United Nations peace operations and the prevention of violent extremism and counterterrorism agendas (PVE/CT) have been on converging paths since the launch of the UN Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism in 2014. During this time, the UN Security Council has discussed various ways to strengthen operational assistance (which currently includes fuel, rations, medical evacuation, and engineering support) to the Group of Five Sahel Force (G5S Force), a cooperative counterterrorism operation between Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger. These discussions continued last month during the renewal mandate of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA).
International support for the effectiveness of the G5 Sahel Force
At the UN Security Council and in other forums in Africa and Europe, diplomats are debating different options for increasing international support to the G5 Sahel Force. The aim is to enhance its operational capacity and effectiveness to restore stability in the Sahel. Despite the presence of the UN Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), the Group of Five Sahel (G5 Sahel) Force, as well as French and European Union missions, the security situation in the Sahel has significantly deteriorated over the last few years.
Can the UN Security Council Enhance the Effectiveness of the G5 Sahel Force?
At the United Nations Security Council, and in other forums in Africa and Europe, diplomats are debating different options for increasing international support to the Group of Five Sahel (G5 Sahel) Force. The aim is to enhance its operational capacity and effectiveness in an effort to restore stability in the Sahel. Despite the presence of the UN Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), the G5 Sahel Force, and French and European Union missions, the security situation in the Sahel has significantly deteriorated over the last few years.