Publications
Teheran. Revolusjon og reaksjon.
(Norwegian only): Temaet for kapitlet er Teherans rolle og betydning i et Midtøsten i endring og konflikt. Jeg ser byen som brennpunkt for tre store slag som står i regionen: kampene over Vestens rolle, folkets makt over politiske avgjørelser og islam som samfunnskontrakt. Jeg viser hvordan kampene spilles ut i Teheran, og hvordan de speiler Irans utfordringer som regional makt. Kapitlet drøfter forholdet mellom innen- og utenrikspolitikk og tar konflikten med Saudi-Arabia som eksempel.
Autocratic legitimation in Iran: Ali Khamenei's discourse on regime 'insiders' and 'outsiders'
The article analyses Ali Khamenei’s discourse on insiders and outsiders in the Islamic Republic of Iran, arguing that it shows the leader of an electoral revolutionary regime striving to counter elite fragmentation and growing democratic demands. It studies identity demarcation as a tool of autocratic legitimation. In a political system where the possibility to access political positions depends on supporting a belief-system, all cadres share a basic identity, which rulers can exploit to draw boundaries between “us” and “them”. The analysis reveals how Iran’s leader capitalizes on the existence of an insider-outsider divide to promote ideas about an imagined “we” of the regime. The “we” is portrayed as an Islamic we, fully committed to his rule. The article maintains that Khamenei developed this discourse in response to the challenge of the Iranian reform movement. It analyses, first, the context in which the discourse emerged and, second, the discursive strategy itself, to substantiate the claim. It concludes that the discourse had two essential aims in the containment (1997–2003) and crushing (2009–2010) of the pro-democracy reformist and Green movements: to de-legitimate Khamenei’s opponents through othering and to legitimate the counter-mobilization of repressive agents.
Environmental hazards
Environmental processes and phenomena pervade the planet, affecting day‐to‐day and decade‐to‐decade lives and livelihoods. When they are associated with death and destruction, they are seen as environmental hazards. Defining “environmental hazards” followed by classifying them into astronomical, biological/ecological, geological, and hydrometeorological sets the stage for examining human influences on environmental processes and phenomena, especially illustrating how human activity leads environmental processes and phenomena to become hazardous. Overlaps and connections among the four categories are explored, including cascading hazards, coincidental hazards, and the hazard influencer of climate change. The final section explains the importance of living with environmental hazards rather than trying to oppose or combat them, showing how society can use knowledge of environmental processes and phenomena to avoid harm while garnering advantages.
The Russian Far East and the Northern Sea route in evolving Sino-Russian strategic relations
Diplomatiminister Brende
Denne artikkelen diskuterer Børge Brendes virke som diplomatiminister.
Norsk utenrikspolitikk begynner i Europa: arven etter Brende i europapolitikken
Engasjementspolitikk på autopilot: Fredsbygging, fredsbevaring og fredsmegling under Børge Brende
Å hoppe etter Refleks: Brendes Veivalg
(Available in Norwegian only): I denne artikkelen løfter Minda Holm stortingsmeldingen "Veivalg for utenriks- og sikkerhetspolitikken" frem i diskusjonen rundt Brendes arv, og i) ser "Veivalg" i lys av Jonas Gahr Støres "Refleks", og ii) modererer kritikken om at det ikke ble foretatt noen veivalg i stortingsmeldingen. Hun trekker særlig frem satsningen på sårbare stater, som både i meldingen og i statsbudsjettet for 2018 er viet stor plass.
Vår fiende Russland?
(Available in Norwegian only): De siste fire årene har fiendebildet av Russland i mange land vokst seg svært sterkt, tidvis på unyansert grunnlag. Parallelt har regimet blitt vanskeligere å forsvare.