Researcher
Øyvind Svendsen
Contactinfo and files
Summary
Øyvind Svendsen is Senior Research Fellow in the Research group on global order and diplomacy at NUPI. The core themes in his research are foreign policy, diplomacy, and security and defence policy. Svendsen primarily studies these questions in a European context. His PhD is from the Department of Political Science at the University of Copenhagen (2020).
Øyvind is Editor of the journal Cooperation and Conflict, 2023-2027.
Recent publications:
Theorizing Public Performances for International Negotiations. International Studies Quarterly 66(3): 1-12 (2022).
The Politics of Third Countries in EU Security and Defence: Norway, Brexit and Beyond. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan (2022).
The Politics of Competence in Global Health: The European Commission’s Global Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. European Foreign Affairs Review 26(SI): 15-29 (2021).
‘Practice time!’ Doxic futures in security and defence diplomacy after Brexit. Review of International Studies 46(1): 3-19 (2020).
Spin-off av EØS? Norge og europeisk utenriks-, sikkerhets- og forsvarssamarbeid. Internasjonal Politikk 77(4): 378-387 (2019). (med Pernille Rieker)
Differentiated (Dis)integration in Practice: The Diplomacy of Brexit and the Low Politics of High Politics. Journal of Common Market Studies 57(6): 1419-1430 (2019). (med Rebecca Adler Nissen)
Brexit and the Future of European Defence: Towards a Practice Approach to Differentiated Defence Integration. Journal of European Integration 41(8): 993-1007 (2019).
Expertise
Education
2020 PhD, Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen
2015 MSc International Relations Theory, London School of Economics
2014 BA International Studies and History, Lillehammer University College
Work Experience
2021- Senior Research Fellow, NUPI
2016-2020 Ph.d. candidate, University of Copenhagen
2015-2016 Lecturer, Lillehammer University College
2010-2011 Grenadier, the Royal Norwegian Air Force
Aktivitet
Filter
Clear all filtersSecurity Communities in Crisis: Crisis Constitution, Struggles and Temporality
How do we approach a security community in crisis? This article theorises crisis dynamics in and on security communities. How do security communities evolve during crises, and how can we best approach such crises analytically? Responding to a lack of focus and knowledge of crisis dynamics in the literature on security communities, this article develops a methodological model to study security communities in crisis. I argue that the study of security communities in crisis could evolve around four analytical categories: processes of constituting crisis and power struggles and the temporal aspects of social action concerning situatedness and imaginaries. This move allows IR theory to rethink the dynamics of security communities in crisis beyond the endurance/decay binary and provide for more process-oriented and context-sensitive empirical work. By way of illustrating the empirical saliency of the article, I use examples from the Brexit process.
The Politics of Competence in Global Health: The European Commission’s Global Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic
What was the European Commission’s (EC) global response to the COVID-19 pandemic and how did it use the crisis to claim competence in the area of global health? This article explores the EC’s global coronavirus response. In so doing, it suggests studying the crisis response in terms of how the EC struggled to be recognized as a competent player in the international community of states and institutions. In particular, the article shows how the EC utilized the crisis unleashed by the pandemic to engage in geopolitical positioning in relation to World Health Organization (WHO) funding and the vaccine race, and by using its financial clout to struggle for mastery as a global health actor. The article responds to the challenge of understanding differentiation in the broader field of European foreign, security and defence policies. By treating informal practices by the EC on the world stage in and of themselves, the article shows how the constant struggle for competence plays into the politics of European integration and considers its potential for being instantiated in formal transfers of competence in the area of global health.
Utenriks- og sikkerhetspolitiske holdninger i valgåret 2021
What does the public experience as the greatest challenges for Norway? And how should they be handled? Where does the public stand in the question about their affiliation to Europe and the European Union? And what trust do the voters have in the various parties' foreign affairs programs before the general election? NUPI has conducted an opinion poll to answer these questions, and in this report we present the findings from our research.
A new European security and defence architecture in the making: What does it look like and what are the implications for Norway? (EURODEFENCE)
This project will study the implications of the new European defence initiatives for Norway particularly, as an allied and closely associated non-member of the EU. Despite the incremental nature of th...
EUs grønne giv – implikasjoner for norsk europapolitikk
EU lanserte mot slutten av 2019 European Green Deal. Dette er en klimastrategi for å nå målene i Parisavtalen, men også en økonomisk vekststrategi, og forventes å definere EUs sentrale prioriteringer i årene fremover. Hvordan vil dette påvirke Norge, og norsk europapolitikk? En ny NUPI-rapport, forsøker å gi svar. Norge er tett koblet til EU via EØS avtalen og en lang rekke andre avtaler, herunder Klimaavtalen som definerer rammene for norsk klimapolitikk frem mot 2030. Når EU endrer sine mål og sin virkemåte, så vil dette også påvirke Norge i stor grad. Noen sentrale observasjoner i rapporten er at: • Det er en spenning i Norge mellom energipolitikken i form av fortsatt olje- og gassproduksjon, på den ene siden, og ambisiøse klimamål, på den andre. EUs grønne giv løfter klimapolitikken til politikkens elitedivisjon og kan gjøre det mer krevende å håndtere denne spenningen. Tradisjonelle allierte i EU - som Sverige og Danmark - har f.eks et annet syn på gass som del av løsningen enn det Norge har. • Grønn Giv innebærer at EU utvikler nye regler med potensielt stor betydning for Norge, men det forvaltningsmessige oppsettet for vurdering og håndtering av nye EU regler i Norge er ikke tilpasset en slik økning i volumet på nye regler. • Grønn giv er "sektorovergripende" og trekker EU Kommisjonen i retning av større integrasjon på tvers av ulike saksfelt. Norsk forvaltning er imidlertid definert av et sektor-prinsipp. Dette innebærer en betydelig økning av behovet for koordinering på tvers av ulike departementer og etater i Norge. • Fordi Norge står utenfor EU, har Norge størst mulighet til å påvirke innretting på nye regler og tiltak tidlig i prosessen, gjennom deltakelse i ekspertgrupper i en forberedende fase. Tempoet og omfanget av nye regler som nå utarbeides gjør dette arbeidet krevende. • Grønn giv innebærer en serie med endringer som potensielt griper inn i eksisterende konfliktlinjer i norsk politikk knyttet til EØS og suverenitetsavståelse. • Det er behov for økt kunnskap og dialog mellom forvaltningen, næringslivet, akademia og sivilt samfunn om hvilke muligheter og utfordringer EUs grønne giv innebærer. Et "grønn giv forum" kan være nyttig for å sikre at ulike norske aktører utnytter de muligheter som ligger i EUs grønne giv. • Grønn giv viser at EØS avtalen har sine begrensninger som det sentrale tilkoblingspunktet til EU. En mer institusjonalisert dialog på øverste politiske nivå mellom Norge og EU vil kunne bidra til å bøte på disse utfordringene. Rapporten er finansiert av Utenriksdepartementet.
Research group for Global Order and Diplomacy
Research group for Global Order and Diplomacy
More alignment in Nordic states’ security and defence policies
The Security and Defence Aspect of Brexit: Altering the Third Country Balance?
What room is there for inclusion of third countries in EU security and defence initiatives and how does Brexit alter the politics of such inclusion? This chapter turns to the emergent power politics of third country participation in EU security and defence and makes a comparison between past EU practices toward Norway and the emerging question of the UK’s future status as a third country. It argues that whereas the EU internally heads forward on security and defence, how it deals with like-minded third country partners will be characterized by a continuation of the existing modus operandi, or muddling through. The argument is made with a specific focus on (1) the domestic level of politicization and (2) EU affordances.
Britain and Norway: Partnership in a changing world
Which areas of cooperation are being prioritised as the UK leaves the European Union, and how can the relationship be expected to develop in the coming years?