Breakfast seminar: USA and geopolitics
Kenneth R. Weinstein will give us insight into US foreign policy and geopolitics at this seminar.
NUPI Researcher to Lead Expert Group
Gendering Security Sector Reform through Capacity Building? The MINUSMA Specialized Police Team on Crime Scene Management
A key element of international peacebuilding efforts is support to reform of the security sector in conflict-affected states, for example through capacity building. From 2019 to 2022, a Norwegian-led police team provided capacity building in crime scene management to Malian security forces as part of the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali (MINUSMA). The Norwegian officers organized courses and acted as mentors for the Malian officers. This article uses this case from MINUSMA to study how external support to reform can help promote gender perspectives in the security sector in conflict-affected countries. UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and the Women, Peace and Security Agenda call on UN member states to contribute to increasing women’s representation and the integration of gender perspectives in UN peace operations. Despite these political frameworks, the gender perspective is often ignored in practice when such support is offered. The analysis shows that the Norwegian officers worked actively to promote gender equality and women's participation, even though this was not a central part of the project, and without references to resolution 1325 or women or gender perspectives in the project document. Instead, the officers pointed to how promoting women's participation and gender equality are a part of “the way we work” (in Norway), as well as MINUSMA's mandate as the basis for this work. Feminist research distinguishes between a traditional and transformative approach to working with gender and security sector reform, where a traditional approach involves working within existing structures to, for example, increase women's participation or for women to receive the same type of training or capacity. A transformative approach, on the other hand, will involve taking a closer look at these structures, and looking at how women's roles in the security sector are affected by societal, cultural and religious norms. The article finds that the work has mainly relied on traditional understandings of gender, and that the opportunities for capacity building to contribute to deeper changes in the security sector are therefore limited. The findings thus further indicate that individual officers can do a lot to promote women's participation and gender perspectives, but deeper transformation of the security sector will probably require action at a more structural level.
Zooming in on the U.S.
Anniken Elise Erlandsen
Anniken is a research assistant at the Research group for Security and defence, primarily working at the Consortium for Terrorism Research. She ho...
Research on radicalisation and countering radicalisation: Taking stock and ways forward
The Consortium for Terrorism Research invites you to a seminar about research on radicalisation and countering radicalization, with Joel Busher and Sarah Marsden.
The Arctic Barometer: Measuring Expert Predictions on the Arctic Region
Making predictions in a highly uncertain environment is always a hazardous enterprise. Confronted with global warming, the future of the Arctic region has been often debated, both in terms of the scope and the speed of expected changes, including the future of resource development, the opening of shipping routes, and the evolution of multilateral fora. These predictions have come from different sources: governments through different policy papers and statements, the media, civil society, and academics, to name but a few. It can be difficult to account for this vast and diverse array of predictions, considering that each actor has interests to promote. We decided to develop a survey asking different actors to make predictions about possible Arctic geopolitical developments. Instead of letting individuals make their own predictions on the topic of their choice, we selected plausible scenarios and prompted respondents to evaluate if these developments were likely or unlikely to happen. Scenarios were developed to be both visible and concrete: we can evaluate if the scenario unfolded or not during a certain time period. For example, we can observe if Russia violated the airspace of another Arctic state, if Greenland reached state sovereignty, or if the U.S. deployed a freedom of navigation operations in the Arctic region. In total, our scenarios covered two dimensions: governance and security. On governance, potential developments around diplomatic initiatives or multilateral cooperation were tested. On security, the possibility of military conflict in the region or of military intrusions were considered. Two main objectives justified this approach. First, we wanted to evaluate if experts were correct in their predictions. Related to this, we were curious to know which type of issues caused incorrect assessments. Second, we repeated the same scenarios in multiple waves: the objective was to analyze if specific geopolitical developments occurring between waves would change predictions, moving the needle on experts’ predictions
Norway’s handling of knowledge relations with states outside its security cooperation
Norwegian authorities have for several years actively promoted internationalization of the knowledge sector. This includes collaboration with authoritarian countries such as China and Russia, which are not part of Norway’s security cooperation. However, in the last few years, we have seen a clear turn towards questions of national security and the status of liberal norms garnering more attention, also with consideration to knowledge relations. We observe this in sharper warnings from the security services, revised legislation and regulations and new guidelines for knowledge collaboration with countries such as China and Russia. In this article we study these changes and discuss their possible implications. Empirically, we build on survey and interview data, and we examine policy documents and media reports on relevant incidents. In terms of theory, we draw on explanations grounded in the geopolitics and securitization literature. We argue that measures that are introduced to protect national security and liberal norms may also limit the operational space for independent research and thus change the parameters for academic freedom, especially in relation to activities with connection to actors from non-allied states. To avoid unnecessarily restrictive conditions, researchers and their institutions should actively demonstrate and communicate how they work to ensure responsibility in their knowledge relations. This is especially important in situations where ethical and security-related challenges are obvious.
Poland and Norway in a changing geopolitical landscape
Which security-related challenges, risks and threats do Poland and Norway face in their strategic environment in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine? And what impact has the Russian invasion of Ukraine had on perceptions of security in the two countries?