Translating Mandates into Policy and Practice: Emerging lessons from operationalizing climate-related security risks in peace operations
IPI, NUPI and SIPRI co-host webinar on Climate-related Security Risks.
Belarus: At the Height of Mobilisation and Repression
Nine months after the massive political protests started as a reaction to the 2020 presidential elections, this webinar examines the state of the political crisis in Belarus.
Norsk eierskapskontroll kan avskrekke utenlandske investorer
Som et relativt lite og åpent land mottar Norge mange utenlandske investeringer. Noen av disse kan skape sikkerhetsutfordinger. «Vi anser dette som en avtale om salg mellom to kommersielle aktører, noe departementet ikke skal eller bør blande seg i», uttalte Næringsdepartementet om at et russisk selskap ville kjøpe den norske bedriften Bergen Engines. Forsvarsdepartementet sa først at sikkerhetsloven ikke var gjeldende, men så snudde de. Nå jobber flere departementer med saken. Dette viser hvor krevende det er å balansere sikkerhetsinteresser og gevinstene av en åpen økonomi.
Climate, Peace and Security: The case of South Sudan
The consequences of climate change can worsen South Sudan’s humanitarian crises and fragile security environment, marked by widespread communal conflict and a civil war since 2013. With a population estimated at 11 million, more than 1.6 million people have been internally displaced due to prolonged conflict.
Hybrid Media and Hybrid Politics: Contesting Informational Uncertainty in Lebanon and Tunisia
This paper investigates the dynamic relationship between hybrid media and hybrid politics in Lebanon and Tunisia. While previous research on the media in hybrid regimes has mainly focused on regime strategies of restricting and manipulating public debate, our analysis moves beyond repression. We argue that the ambiguities of hybrid politics, which combines democratic and authoritarian elements, not only constrain independent and critical reporting but also open up opportunities for journalistic agencies. We draw on Schedler’s concept of informational uncertainty to capture the epistemological instability of hybrid regimes and the strategies of political actors to control public knowledge. Distinguishing between three dimensions of media hybridity - economic, cultural and technological - we show how the new hybrid media environment significantly increases the volatility of hybrid politics and informational uncertainty for political actors. Our empirical analysis is based on seventy-one semistructured interviews with journalists in Lebanon and Tunisia conducted between 2016 and 2019. The material reveals a broad range of strategies used by journalists who employ the internal contradictions of hybrid politics to pursue their own agenda. The comparison between Lebanon and Tunisia also highlights contextual conditions that enable, or limit, journalistic agency, such as clientelistic dependencies, economic resources, and civil society alliances.
Journalism under instrumentalized political parallelism
Media systems where political parallelism co-exists with political clientelism have contradictory influences on journalistic practices. Journalists are encouraged to actively defend a cause and influence public opinion while expected to remain subservient to their political masters. The media studies literature has analyzed the impact of political parallelism and clientelism separately, without reflecting on the tensions that emerge when they operate together. The article examines journalism under instrumentalized political parallelism and argues that it plays out in a field defined by both horizontal and vertical conflicts. We add an elite-grassroots analytical perspective to the inter-elite tensions associated with a polarized public sphere. Political parallelism in non-democratic contexts seemingly leaves little room for journalistic agency, as the politically powerful tend to instrumentalize media outlets. However, by looking closely at the case of Lebanon, we argue that journalists are still able to act independently of and contrary to the elite's intentions. The empirical analysis shows how journalists navigate vis-à-vis the politicians by playing the relations game, exploiting internal contradictions in the system and connecting with popular grievances. The article contributes new knowledge about journalists’ resilience to instrumentalization in a context of media/politics connections that is commonly found outside the West.
Resilience in the age of crises
This research paper examines the concept 'resilience' as a response to the constantly changing environments and turbulence of the world. While resilience is used by several international organisations and nation states, there is still a lack of consensus regarding what the concept really means – it denotes both resisting change and being willing to adapt at the same time. This paper offers some clarity and argues that a temporal dimension is needed when applying the concept of resilience.
The weakest link? Digital technology and cyber security capacity building in Developing Countries
The world gets more interconnected, and the dependency of cyberspace and its infrastructure is now evident in most sectors. Join this seminar to learn more about the need for security standards across countries.
Leangkollen Security Conference 2021 | DAY 2 – “Building Resilience to Foreign Interference”
Debate about digital security and foreign influence
Lorax in Motion: Building the Transnational Ecosystem Politics Database
Lorax in Motion is a series whereby we report and reflect upon the Lorax project’s ongoing research activities. Here, we zoom in upon Lorax’s Dr Cristiana Maglia, who recently received her PhD in Political Science Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), after a stay as a visiting scholar at The University of Oxford. Her primary research interests include institutions, right wing political parties, electoral markets and ideology.