Israel og moralsk balansegang
Kritikere av lsraels overgrep mot palestinere blir ofte urettmessig beskyldt for antisemittisme. Samtidig er antisemittisme et økende problem i deler av Europa og USA.
REPORT: Building tax systems in fragile states
New report from the TaxCapDev network recommends nine entry points for Norwegian support to taxation in fragile states.
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.
Working Paper: Comparing the EU’s Output Effectiveness in the Cases of Afghanistan, Iraq and Mali
This part of the overall report (Deliverable 7.1) on the EU’s crisis response in Afghanistan, Iraq and Mali compares the findings of three comprehensive cases-studies. The analytical focus is on the output dimension of EU policy-making that is the output of decision-making of the policy-making machinery in Brussels. Thus, the analysis is confined to the choices and decisions made regarding the EU’s problem definitions, policy goals, strategies and instruments – both on a strategic and operational level; thus policy implementation or impact will be analysed as next steps in following project reports (D 7.2, 7.3, and 7.4).
Religiøs autoritet og tynnslitt stat: Valgkamp i sjia-Irak
(Available in Norwegian only) Artikkelen diskuterer sjia-muslimske religiøse lærdes relasjon til statsmakt og analyserer hvordan religiøs autoritet tas i bruk som politisk valuta i Irak. Den tar utgangspunkt i fredagsprekener holdt i forkant av parlamentsvalget 12. mai 2018. Religiøse ledere har måter å generere autoritet på som politikere i svak tilstand mangler. Fremfor alt har Storayatollah 'Ali al-Sistani enorm prestisje, som var tydlig i valget. Artikkelen gjør opp status for Sistanis holdning til irakisk politikk og sammenstiller budskapet med posisjonene til systemkritiske Muqtada al-Sadr samt Jalal al-Din ‘Ali al-Saghir, som målbar interessene til den Iran-vennlige valgalliansen al-Fatah. Den viser hvordan Sadr og Saghir tøyer Sistanis autoritet for å tjene konkurrerende agendaer og setter storayatollahen i en vanskelig situasjon.
Erbil: Kurderne utfordrer regionens stater
Om boken (Available in Norwegian only: Midtøstens dramatiske historie har i stor grad dreid seg om kontrollen over og forbindelsene mellom de klassiske byene i regionen: Jerusalem, Bagdad, Mekka, Kairo og andre. Byene er brennpunkter i det større regionale bildet - liksom Midtøsten selv er et brennpunkt internasjonalt. Byene utgjør Midtøstens nervesystem, og har alltid gjort det. De rommer viktige deler av vår sivilisasjonshistorie, og består i dag som levende byer, tross ødeleggende kriger og okkupasjoner, med shoppingsentra, trafikkproblemer og nabokrangler. Statene er mer usikre og ustabile enheter, ofte formet av ytre makter uten hensyn til lokale identiteter, interesser og behov. Dette skaper konfliktmønstre som kan være vanskelig å forstå for oss som tar nasjonalstaten for gitt. Boka gir en faglig kompetent og lett tilgjengelig framstilling av kompleksiteten og nyansene i de brennbare spørsmålene som berøres, samtidig som overblikket holdes tydelig fram for leseren. Alle kapittelforfatterne har svært god kjennskap til byen de skriver om, og har et personlig engasjement for den.
Together all the way? Abeyance and co-optation of Sunni networks in Lebanon
This article assesses how social movement continuity may vary in non-democratic and repressive contexts. Using a single case study of Islamist networks in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli over three decades, I ask: Under what conditions is social movement continuity possible, and in what form? Former studies have three levels of abeyance - activist network and personnel; movement goals and repertoires; and collective identities and symbols - are instructive. Network survival and abeyance structures can facilitate rapid mass protests in case of a facilitating external conjuncture. This analysis relies on data collected during fieldwork conducted over a decade in Tripoli, triangulated with secondary literature and primary sources in Arabic. I find that four individual-level continuity pathways are available in authoritarian contexts: continuation of activism; disengagement; co-optation; and arena shifts. These pathways should not be seen as final and stable outcomes but as fluctuating and contingent processes, or pathways. Due to the ambiguity of informal networks, co-opted movements may easily turn against the authorities once again. Moreover, local legacies of protests may be used as resources by new protest leaders.
The Duty of Care for Citizens Abroad: Security and Responsibility in the In Amenas and Fukushima Crises
This article analyses the state’s duty of care (DoC) for citizens who fall victim to unforeseen catastrophic or violent events abroad. The DoC highlights the challenges, dynamics and relations involved in diplomatic practice that is aimed at protecting citizens outside of state borders and where traditional security concepts have little relevance. How has a globalized, more insecure world — with shifting relations and responsibilities among states, their subordinates and other carers — affected the provision of DoC? How do governments and private actors act on the DoC during and after crises? To illustrate, the article draws on the terrorist attack at a gas facility in Algeria in 2013 and the nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011, focusing particularly on the Norwegian framework and approach to protecting citizens abroad. In both crises, implementing the DoC required practical skills and measures beyond traditional diplomacy and institutionalized crisis mechanisms.
Breakfast seminar: Global disorder and distrust – the Middle East
New seminar series about the global distrust that has been more evident lately, and the first event will take a closer look what this development means for the Middle East.