Crude Nukes on the Loose? : Preventing Nuclear Terrorism by Means of Optimum Nuclear Husbandry, Transparency, and Non-Intrusive Fissile Material Ve...
This thesis assesses the threat of nuclear terrorism and identifies strategies for diminishing the risk of such incidents. Never before have the material, the technology, the know-how, and, perhaps, the motivations needed to perform acts of nuclear terrorism been more exploitable. Building on eight research papers, the thesis sets out to answer three principal questions: 1) “Can terrorists possibly perform acts of terror by means of crude nuclear explosive devices based on highly enriched uranium? What are the main barriers to the production of crude nuclear explosives?” 2) “Is there an optimum way of protecting fissile material from falling into terrorist hands? What role – if any – do transparency and nonintrusive verification play in this regard?” 3) “Within legitimate security constraints, what kind of measures could be put in place to enhance the transparency and non-intrusive verification of stocks of sensitive fissile material?”
EU Security Policy: Contrasting Rationalism and Social Constructivism
There are two very different stories that can be told about EU security policy during 2003. On the one hand, some argue that the deep division among important EU countries in relation to the Iraq war is a final confirmation of the absence of an EU security policy. On the other hand, some argue that the last year has been a year of considerable intensity in relation to EU security policy – despite the fact that EU cannot yet be characterised as a unitary actor. One of the reasons for these very different stories is that they are based on fundamentally different ideas and theories about the basic mechanisms in international relations. In this paper Pernille Rieker will contrast how two different approaches, namely Rationalistism and Social constructivism would analyse EU security policy. The paper starts with a short presentation of the meta-theoretical foundation of these approaches. The second part discusses how each of them views the conditions for multilateral cooperation and security. In the third part these perspectives on EU security policy will be discussed and some empirical data that support each of them will be presented. Finally, the paper ends on a discussion concerning whether these approaches must be seen as being alternative or complementary approaches.
Væpnet hjelp utenfra i norsk sikkerhetspolitikk
Denne rapporten undersøker hvilken rolle muligheten for å få væpnet hjelp fra andre land har spilt i norsk sikkerhetspolitisk tenkning og planlegging gjennom de siste vel hundre år. Studien ser på hvilke forestillinger man i Norge på begynnelsen av forrige århundre hadde om denne muligheten, på et tidspunkt da den av hensyn til nøytralitetspolitikkens troverdighet ikke burde nevnes høyt. Hvordan tanken om væpnet hjelp utenfra, fra å være stilltiende spekulasjon, kom inn som tema i den offentlige debatt, og hvilke motforestillinger den møtte, blir også viet oppmerksomhet. Noen av de problemstillinger som i denne sammenheng ble reist, blir også viet særskilt oppmerksomhet når det deretter blir sett nærmere på den betydning forutsetningen om væpnet hjelp fra allierte i tilfelle aggresjon fikk i norsk forsvars- og sikkerhetspolitikk etter siste verdenskrig. De muligheter denne forutsetningen åpnet, de dilemmaer den reiste og de krav den stilte, blir særskilt belyst. Til slutt blir søkelyset satt på hva forutsetningen om væpnet hjelp fra allierte i tilfelle behov, har fått å si for sikkerhetspolitisk planlegging og for forsvarets rolle og utforming etter den kalde krigen, med et NATO under sterk endring i bakgrunnen.
Norges sikkerhetspolitiske utfordringer i nordområdene
I foredraget som notatet er en gjengivelse av, stilles spørs-målet om en av de sikkerhetspolitiske utfordringene for oss i nord kanskje ligger på det mentale plan hos oss selv. Det pekes på tilvente tenkemåter fra den kalde krigen som kan virke tilslørende i forhold til nye utfordringer. Blant annet vises det til den tillærte tilbøyelighet til å regne med NATO og alli-ert hjelp i tilfelle vi skulle råke ille ut. Samtidig vises det til at NATOs tidlig-ere så sterke fokus mot områdene i nord er borte og at alliansen i dag ikke bare er vesentlig endret, men at selve dens tilværelse også er mer utrygg. Spørsmålet reises om en av våre fremste utfordringer i nord er at vi risi-kerer å bli stående mer alene enn forutsett overfor enkelte andre utfordrin-ger som kan melde seg der. I tilknytning til dette pekes det på at den inter-nasjonale orden i en periode fremover nå kan bli sterkere preget av makt til fortrengsel for rett enn vi har vennet oss til.
Partnership and Discord: Russia and the construction of a post Cold War security architecture in Europe 1991–2000
This study analyses Russia’s approach to the construction of a post-Cold War security architecture in Europe from 1991 to 2000. The author examines tensions, contradictions and ambiguities in Russia’s policy that contributed to making both partnership and discord ingredients to Russian–Western security relations. For instance, how can we understand Russia’s intense opposition to NATO enlargement and NATO’s out-of-area operations in light of Russia’s own formalised cooperation with the Western alliance? And how can we conceive of Moscow’s enduring position that the OSCE should be the ‘cornerstone’ of Europe’s security architecture, considering what many observers have interpreted as Russian obstruction of, and non-compliance with, OSCE decisions and norms? The author seeks to answer these questions by tracing the Russian debate on national identity and foreign policy that emerged in the wake of Soviet dissolution.
Damage Limitation and Decline in Institutional Powers: Russia’s Perception of the EU as a Security Actor 1999–2002
The report will discuss whether or not Russian interest and endorsement of the EU’s security and defense dimension repeated the overall strategic perspective of the Primakov doctrine, which aimed at counterbalancing US unipolarism by playing on the differences between the US and Europe in international affairs. I ask this question since analysts are not equivocal to this end. Some suggest that “Primakov’s fall from power has not undercut the importance of multipolarity in Russian foreign policy. By analyzing perceptions, I seek to highlight the dominating trends in the discourse on the EU in Russia. This involves a broad orientation with regard to sources. Russia has engaged in a comprehensive debate on relating to the EU and NATO within the field of security, and the report draws on vast material from the security debate within research circles and official speeches and newspaper reports. Perceptions will be linked to the interpretive approaches of damage limitation or declining institutional powers. A definition of these two approaches will be given below.
From territorial defence to comprehensive security? European integration and the changing Norwegian and Swedish security identities
This paper analyses the relationship between the European integration process and the recent changes in the Norwegian and the Swedish national security identities. The aim of the paper is to compare developments in the Norwegian and the Swedish security identities in the 1990s and to evaluate the extent and scope of Europeanisation in the two cases. The fact that both Norway and Sweden had very traditional security discourses at the beginning of the 1990s and that it is possible to detect shifts away from this traditionalism in parallel with the development towards a European security dimension should prove that a Europeanisation has indeed occurred. While several researchers have studied the influence of the EU on national institutions and policies, less attention has been given to the Europeanisation of national security identities. This paper is therefore an attempt to fill this gap. The fact that Sweden has become a member of the EU while Norway has not also makes these two countries good cases for examining the extent and scope of their respective Europeanisation.
The Europeanisation of Norway's Security Identity
In this working paper Pernille Rieker looks into the relationship between the European integration process and changes in Norway’s national security identity. Has the dominant national discourse on security changed since the early 1990s? If so, how are these changes related to the recent acceleration of the European integration process? And to what extent are such European influences on national security identities related to formal membership in the EU? While there is reason to believe that a Europeanisation of national security policies has taken place, the question is whether we may speak of a profound change in identity, or merely an instrumental adaptation to external changes. Several researchers have studied the influence of this participation on national institutions and policies; less attention, however, has been given to the Europeanisation of Norway’s security identity. This paper is an attempt to fill this gap.