Mitigating Perceived Threats in Russian and Norwegian Public Discourse (THREAT-DEFUSER)
THREAT-DEFUSER integrates state-of-the-art political science, linguistics, and media studies methods to forge a new multidisciplinary approach to hybrid warfare. The primary objective is long term str...
Russland landet fallskjermjegere i Arktis: – Ingen har gjort dette før oss
Comments on Russian military activity in the Arctic and Russian paratroopers' military excercises in the region
Hvilke sikkerhetspolitiske utfordringer står Norge overfor? Russland som trussel mot Norge
Russia foreign and security policy since Putin came to power with an emphasis on relations with the West. The recent emergence of a new Cold War in the High North and challenges for Norwegian security.
Kommer Russerne?
What would a potential conflict with Russia look like? How can we prevent and avoid a new conflict with Russia? Interview with Julie Wilhelmsen and Tormod Heier at launch event for the magazine Samtiden in March 2020.
The Geopolitics of Fish in the Arctic
Climate change and declining sea-ice in the Central Arctic Ocean (CAO) has brought concerns that fish stocks may expand into the high Arctic. While the sub-Arctic seas of the North Pacific and the North Atlantic have abundant fish resources subject to major commercial fisheries for generations, the CAO has little or none. Concerns that fish stocks could expand into the CAO provided the impetus for negotiating the 2018 Agreement to Prevent Unregulated Fishing in the Central Arctic Ocean. This policy brief discusses efforts to address challenges associated with climate change and fish in the Arctic, and makes recommendations for policy action.
Krigen skjer på nettet
The war is online:Influencing campaigns, fake news, hackers, magic tricks, hybrid attacks and destabilization: Who's behind it, how big is the threat and does anyone know how to protect ourselves? Lytring invites a debate on the digital gray zone between war and peace. We ask how much Russia and China contribute to the fire that is now burning in the United States, and is it true that they are also trying to ignite a spark in Northern Norway? In the panel: Øystein Bogen, Russia's longtime correspondent for TV2 and author of the book "Russia's secret war on the West" Julie Wilhelmsen, Senior Researcher at the Norwegian Foreign Policy Institute (NUPI) Geir Hågen Karlsen, Colonel Lieutenant at the Norwegian Defense College Ørjan Karlsson, Head of Department in the Directorate for Social Security and Contingency Odd-Jarl Borch, professor at Northern University Debate leader: Anki Gerhardsen
NUPI’s Russia Conference 2020: Great Powers and Arctic Politics
Please join us at NUPI’s Russia Conference on 10 September – this year in an online format!
The Far Right Honeytrap: Georgian Media and the Mediagenic Far Right
The recent wave of far-right mobilization across the globe, including Georgia, naturally attracts wide media attention. Although the interrelation of the media and the far right, especially in the Georgian context, remains under-researched, evidence from other countries shows the potential impact of media coverage on both public opinion, i.e. the demand for the far right, and the consolidation of far-right actors, i.e. the supply of the far right. This policy paper examines the possible role the Georgian media can play in far-right mobilization and provides recommendations for both media and civil society organizations.
What Liberalism? Russia’s Conservative Turn and the Liberal Order
Through a regime that increasingly promotes a conservative domestic agenda and at times portrays the West as decadent and lost, the Russian state has been cast as the front man in a new international conservative revolt. Yet, calling the Russian state ‘anti-liberal’ misses the complexity of its critique of liberal international politics. This essay argues that the ‘anti-liberalism’ of the current and in many ways radically conservative Russian state is one directed at the particular form of anti-pluralist and internationalist liberalism associated with the ‘benchmark date’ of 1989 and the period of liberal triumphalism that followed – not at the system of regulated state sovereignty laid down after 1945, known as ‘liberal order’. While the current Russian state clearly challenges central aspects of liberalism at home, and echoes Schmittian realism in several regards, the state also relies on a specific interpretation of concepts such as sovereignty and non-interference that historically were part of a more stability-oriented, conservative liberal international vision. Exploring exactly ‘what liberalism’ it is that Russia is increasingly defying, the essay opens up an important space to historicize and interrogate what post-1945 liberal memory is, how such memory is currently being re-negotiated by a New Western Right, and what Russia has got to do with it.
Slow Stagnation, Sudden Revolution? Post-Covid-19 Prospects for Political Change in Russia and Belarus
The Covid-19 pandemic and the impending economic crisis may exacerbate instability in Belarus and Russia. To reduce the risks of regional instability and help to prepare for a possible transition of power, the international community should continue its support for democratic initiatives in the region. To better understand and predict future political development, close and nuanced knowledge of Russian and Belarusian societies is necessary. Monitoring and academic research should therefore be encouraged. In the case of a transition, the international community should demand free and fair elections. It should also issue strong and clear statements against foreign interference and consistently react to any violations of sovereignty.