Publications
The Expert-Executive Nexus in the European Administrative System: Expert Groups and the European Commission
Drawing on research from the administrative sciences and using organizational, institutional and decision-making theories, this volume examines the emerging bureaucratic framework of the EU and highlights that analyzing the patterns and dynamics of the EU's administrative capacities is essential to understand how it shapes European public policy.
Handelspolitikken er tilbake
Når oljeprisen faller blir handelspolitikken viktigere. Er tiden kommet for å koble fisk og landbruk i internasjonale forhandlinger?
The limits of global authority: World Bank benchmarks in Ethiopia and Malawi
Global benchmarks (re)shape political conversations and institutionalise authoritative languages. It does not necessarily follow, however, that benchmarks can exert a lasting or significant influence over policies and behaviour of benchmarked actors. We analyse how the World Bank uses benchmarks to manage its relations with both donors and recipient governments. We analyse the role of the World Bank’s Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA), both at headquarters and in relation to the recent history of two countries in Africa: Ethiopia and Malawi. We find that the CPIA is not – and contrary to what one would expect from the CPIA’s nominal function and the literature on benchmarks – a very important tool for signalling incentives and allocating funds, or shaping the policy dialogue or the World Bank’s strategy in these two countries. Rather, the CPIA is used highly selectively as one factor among many in the negotiations between World Bank staff and governments. We conclude that the CPIA helps establish the World Bank as an actor that embodies global authority on development issues, including with donors, but that there is a tension between such global authority on the one hand, and concrete authority to shape policy in domestic contexts, on the other.
Trade barriers or trade facilitators? On the heterogeneous impact of food standards in international trade
Interessekonflikter i norsk handelspolitikk
(This book in Norwegian): I handelspolitikken er det ofte et dilemma mellom offensive næringer som ønsker frihandel og best mulig tilgang til eksportmarkedene, og defensive næringer som ønsker beskyttelser mot import. For eksempel ønsker fiskerinæringen i dag fri handel for å øke eksporten, mens Norge for landbruksnæringen har tollsatser som er blant de høyeste i verden. Tidligere hadde Norge omfattende importvern for tekstilvarer. Hvordan kan de offensive og defensive interessene ivaretas på samme tid i Norges handelsforhandlinger med andre land? Hva er kostnadene ved å stenge importen ute, og hva taper eksportnæringene på barrierer i andre land? Hvem bestemmer når næringen har ulike interesser? I denne nye boken blir dette analysert prinsipielt, økonomisk, institusjonelt og historisk, med bidrag fra åtte ulike forfattere fra NUPI og fire norske universiteter. Boken er et akademisk bidrag i en aktuell debatt, og et innspill til utformingen av Norges framtidige handelspolitikk, samtidig som den inneholder et omfattende materiale om Norges handelsforhandlinger fra 1800-tallet og fram til 2015.