Det frie internettet er under angrep
Kronikk: Kina og Russland prøver allerede å ta kontroll over «sitt» internett. Vil Vesten nå, etter USA-hackingen og foran vårens valg i Europa, følge etter? This op-ed is published in Norwegian only.
Statsbygging, sårbare stater og internasjonal krisehandtering
(Available in Norwegian only): Dette kapitlet går gjennom og skisserer de viktigste utfordringene det internasjonale samfunn står ovenfor i forsøk på krisehandtering i fattige og sårbare stater. Dette betyr at den type krisehandtering som dette kapitelet er opptatt av er knyttet til internasjonale operasjoner i land hvor statsmakt er svært svekket og omstridt. Dette er land som befinner seg i en langvarig politisk, sosial og økonomisk krise. Slike land er ikke kun fattige, men også i tilstand av stor politisk og sosial sårbarhet preget av en eller flere politiske konflikter som har en voldelig karakter. Dettte innebærer at kapitlet vil først diskutere hva det innebærer å være en sårbar stat. Deretter vil ulike konseptuelle posisjoner innenfor debatten om statsbygging, internasjonale intervensjoner og krisehandtering presentert. Dette vil også gi leseren et kort riss av hovedtrekkene i debatten mellom posisjoner som grunnleggende er positive til dagens regime av internasjonale liberale intervensjoner og de som stiller kritiske spørsmål ved selve fundamentet for dette regimet. Kapitlet skisserer deretter utfordringene det internasjonale samfunn står ovenfor gjennom empiriske eksempler fra internasjonale intervensjoner og krisehandtering som på ulike måter griper inn i eller påvirkes av statsbyggingsprosjekter og prosesser.
Securitisation of research: fieldwork under new restrictions in Darfur and Mali
Knowledge on conflict-affected areas is becoming increasingly important for scholarship and policy. This article identifies a recent change in knowledge production regarding 'zones of danger', attributing it not only to the external environment, but also to an on-going process of securitisation of research resulting from institutional and disciplinary practices. Research is increasingly framed by security concerns and is becoming a security concern in itself, although the implications are not readily acknowledged. To illustrate these developments, we draw on fieldwork in Mali and Darfur.
History
This handbook presents in a comprehensive, concise and accessible overview, the emerging field of international political sociology. It summarizes and synthesizes existing knowledge in the field while presenting central themes and methodologies that have been at the centre of its development, providing the reader with a sense of the diversity and research dynamics that are at the heart of international political sociology as a field of study. A wide range of topics covered include: International political sociology and its cognate disciplines and fields of study; Key themes including security, mobility, finance, development, gender, religion, health, global elites and the environment; Methodologies on how to engage with international political sociology including fieldwork, archives, discourse, ethnography, assemblage, materiality, social spaces and visuality; Current and future challenges of international political sociology addressed by three key scholars. Providing a synthetic reference point, summarizing key achievements and engagements while putting forward future developments and potential fruitful lines of inquiry, it is an invaluable resource for students, academics and researchers from a range of disciplines, particularly international relations, political science, sociology, political geography, international law, international political economy, security studies and gender studies.
Den globale flyktningkrisen - de synlige og de usynlige
(Available in Norwegian only): Den europeiske delen av den globale flyktningkirsen har skapt et nyy geografisk hierarki av synlige og unsynlige flyktninger. De synlige er de som kommer til Europa eller har en mulighet til det. De usynlige er de som ikke har denne muligheten. Dette hierarkiet har store implikasjoner både med tanke på hvilke dimensjoner av den globale flyktningkirsen som synes og hvilke som forblir unsynlige, men også for hvilke typer av politikk som benyttes og hvilke prioriteringer som gjøres
Displacement, belonging, and land rights in Grand Gedeh, Liberia: almost at home abroad?
Conflicts over local land rights between groups considered as “sons of the soil” and newcomers such as refugees can trigger autochthony-inspired violence. However, such conflicts are not always manifested, even when the conditions are in place. The question we explore in this article is whether such conflicts are less likely to emerge if the “other” is from a group with a longstanding bond of interethnic allegiance with the host community. Based on ethnographic data from host–refugee communities in Grand Gedeh, Liberia, we revisit previous attempts to explain economic and social relations between majority and minority groups. Our main finding is that in this part of Africa no prior special status will fundamentally alter the established ways of incorporating strangers into the community.
Wars and Warlords
The debate about war in African studies has gone through a number of important changes. Until the end of the Cold War, African wars were often fueled by super-power competition. After the end of the Cold War most were either solved peacefully or simply collapsed as external support dried up. Some, however, continued, such as the Lord’s Resistance Army war, and new ones emerged. One was the intertwining of civil wars in West Africa’s Mano River Basin. Another was created by the collapse of the Mobutist state in Zaire that drew in a number of neighboring countries. Lately the Sahel is also experiencing a similar trend. During the Cold War, conflict in Africa was often referred to as “war by proxy,” in reference to external factors as important causes of conflict. After the end of the Cold War, much more emphasis has been placed on internal factors, first ethnicity and later the so-called greed and grievance debate. The approach to the warlord concept in African studies is closely tied to these debates. In general terms, a warlord is an individual who has control over an area because this person commands armed forces that are loyal to the warlord. A precise definition of this phenomenon is therefore available. The challenge, however, is that this term almost automatically brings forth powerful images of rape, loot, and plunder committed by heavily armed, thuggish-looking men. Contrary to the relatively sober academic debate about wars and warlords elsewhere in the world, the debate about warlords in Africa has tended to be extremely politicized and used to name and shame specific persons. Until the early 1990s, the warlord concept was used sparsely in African studies, but then it became more prevalent, promoted by debates about the civil wars in the Mano River Basin, where influential scholars such as Paul Collier argued that African civil wars were driven by greed and not grievances. Soon, the warlord label was attached to almost all conflicts on the continent. However, this also led to the emergence of a counterdebate that questioned the validity of greedy warlords as explanatory factors and argued for a multidimensional approach that also took into consideration social, political, and historical factors. The outcome was a much more nuanced but also diverse debate, where many of the most prominent scholars question the usefulness of the warlord concept.
The BRICS: The Last Line of Defence for Globalisation?
In the West, the rise of nationalist populism reached a tipping point in 2016 when it generated both the United Kingdom vote for Brexit and the election of Donald Trump as President in the United States of America. In contrast, the BRICS have over this same period invested in strengthening their commitment to the United Nations, global governance and economic globalisation. Although their primary focus has been on inter-BRICS financial, trade and economic cooperation, they opted to focus their 2017 annual Summit on developing strategies to defend global governance, economic globalisation, free trade and collective climate action. How did we get to the point where it seems to be up to the BRICS to play an important role in rescuing globalisation?
Arctic petroleum: Local CSR-perceptions in the Nenets region
he purpose of this paper is to identify and discuss perceptions of petroleum-related corporate social responsibility (CSR) among local and regional authorities, local peoples (indigenous and non-indigenous) and representatives of petroleum companies working or living in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug (NAO) in the Russian Arctic. Although the CSR literature comprises a broad spectrum of approaches, an underrepresentation of perspectives from non-business stakeholders has been suggested. The paper seeks to redress this gap. The data are obtained through 34 in-depth, semi-structured interviews conducted and qualitatively analysed to extrapolate perceptions, views and expectations of petroleum-related CSR in NAO. By exploring needs, wants and expectations, differences are identified between short-term expectations and long-term perspectives. A central feature of the authors’ findings is the wide variation in the responses not only between community groups and sectors but also within them. The complexity identified is an argument in favour of local involvement to understand local contexts and suggests avoiding “one-size fits all” CSR approaches. Challenges and opportunities are identified for the petroleum companies in dealing with different stakeholders and diverging interests. The importance of local context means that caution is advised when considering the transferability or generalisability of lessons, within NAO and elsewhere in and outside the Russian Arctic. Furthermore, fundamental motivations are not always transparent from interviews. Although a rich literature exists on CSR, this is perhaps the first study providing a cross-sectoral analysis of people’s perceptions, including those of non-business stakeholders, in this region.
From State-led development to embedded neoliberalism: India’s Industrial and Social Policies in Comparative Perspective
In the literature, there are mixed opinions about the links between economic globalisation and social policies. On the one hand, it is argued that increased global economic integration compels states to promote their countries’ economic competitiveness. In an increasingly liberalised world economy, this leads to a ‘race to the bottom’, in which states, in order to attract investment and prevent capital flight, must cut spending and reduce tax rates (Swank 2001; Brooks 2009). On the other hand, it is claimed that in the face of increased economic insecurity, citizens will demand more social protection by the state, as compensation for increased insecurity. According to this argument, increased economic liberalisation will be accompanied by expanded social policies, along the lines seen in Europe in the period of ‘embedded liberalism’, when welfare states were built. For India, similar arguments have been made by Partha Chatterjee, who argues that along with a (neoliberal) policy promoting the ‘primitive accumulation of capital’, the state has undertaken to ‘reverse the effects of primitive accumulation’ by funding programmes that provide alternative means of livelihood to those that have lost them (Chatterjee 2013: 214). This chapter will assess the role of the state in industrial development and welfare provision in India. It will trace the evolution of state policies, focusing mainly on the period from the 1970s until today, to identify patterns of both continuity and change. It will focus on: 1 Economic policies, including the system of regulation, degree of state ownership and industrial policy (state ownership, licensing, trade policies, tax system); 2 Social protection (direct or conditional cash transfers, social assistance, pensions, unemployment benefits, public works, health and education).