Does dialogue resolve conflicts?
Dialogue has become a buzzword in international politics. But can it really carry the burden of conflict resolution?
The limits of global authority: World Bank benchmarks in Ethiopia and Malawi
Global benchmarks (re)shape political conversations and institutionalise authoritative languages. It does not necessarily follow, however, that benchmarks can exert a lasting or significant influence over policies and behaviour of benchmarked actors. We analyse how the World Bank uses benchmarks to manage its relations with both donors and recipient governments. We analyse the role of the World Bank’s Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA), both at headquarters and in relation to the recent history of two countries in Africa: Ethiopia and Malawi. We find that the CPIA is not – and contrary to what one would expect from the CPIA’s nominal function and the literature on benchmarks – a very important tool for signalling incentives and allocating funds, or shaping the policy dialogue or the World Bank’s strategy in these two countries. Rather, the CPIA is used highly selectively as one factor among many in the negotiations between World Bank staff and governments. We conclude that the CPIA helps establish the World Bank as an actor that embodies global authority on development issues, including with donors, but that there is a tension between such global authority on the one hand, and concrete authority to shape policy in domestic contexts, on the other.
The Expert-Executive Nexus in the European Administrative System: Expert Groups and the European Commission
Drawing on research from the administrative sciences and using organizational, institutional and decision-making theories, this volume examines the emerging bureaucratic framework of the EU and highlights that analyzing the patterns and dynamics of the EU's administrative capacities is essential to understand how it shapes European public policy.
Boko Haram – funds and logistics
NUPI and the Skattjakt-network has the pleasure of inviting to a seminar with Dr Adebusuyi Isaac Adeniran (Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria).
Defining the Peacekeeping Economy
Peacekeeping is difficult, and being a peacekeeper is not easy either. But for the local people living in the midst of a large-scale peacekeeping mission, life is even more precarious.
UN at 70: Peace and Security
This seminar focuses on peace and security, and explores the three recent review processes conducted in this field: the peace operations review, the review of the peacebuilding architecture and the review of the implementation of security council resolution 1325.
The Russia Conference 2015: Today's Russia, and where to next?
This year’s anniversary conference will seek to give an overview of developments both within Russia and within Norwegian research on Russia over the past twenty years and to give a status report with regards to Russian politics today. Which trends do we see? Where is Russia headed?