The Military Power Seminar 2020: Transatlantic security relations after the US Presidential elections: What to expect?
We are delighted to welcome you to the Military Power Seminar 2020 – this year in a digital format! Join us in the discussion when we take a closer look at what the US Presidential election will mean for Norway’s security relations with the USA.
Defending and renewing multilateralism: Estonia and Norway in the UN Security Council
This project will explore possibilities to enhance Estonian-Norwegian bilateral cooperation in promoting multilateral cooperation and a rules-based global order in the framework of the United Nations ...
Police Reform and Community Policing in Kenya: The Bumpy Road from Policy to Practice
A reform is underway in Kenya, aimed at transforming the police organization into a people- centred police service. Among other things, this involves enhancing police-public trust and partnerships through community policing (COP). Two state-initiated COP models have been implemented: the National Police Service’s Community Policing Structure, and the Nyumba Kumi model of the President’s Office. On paper, police reform and the two COP models would appear to have the potential to improve police-public cooperation. In practice, however, implementation has proven difficult. Interviews and meetings with local community organizations, community representatives and police officers in urban and rural parts of Kenya indicate that scepticism towards the two COP models is common, as is refusal to engage in them. But why is this so? Why are these two COP models unsuccessful in enhancing police-public trust and cooperation? This article analyses how various contextual factors—such as conflicting socio-economic and political interests at the community and national levels, institutional challenges within the police, the overall role and mandate of the police in Kenya, and a top-down approach to COP—impede the intended police paradigm shift.
Hvilke utfordringer står totalforsvaret overfor mtp å stå rustet til å møte morgendagens digitale utfordringer og trusselbilde?
Closing conference debate about cybersecurity in context of the total defence system.
Etterretningstjenestene og det nye trusselbildet: Er de beredt?
The current international situation places far higher demands on coordination, cooperation and interaction between the services than before. At the same time, there have been, and are, a number of different challenges associated with collaboration between PST and Norway's military intelligence. These are based on a number of different factors, such as resources, mandate, organization and culture. The authors propose a number of reforms that build on the current model, but which they believe will solve the current challenges.
China’s EU policy in the pandemic era: A new normal?
During the pandemic era, media reports and leaks indicate a growing assertiveness from China towards the EU. Is this a sign of a new normal in China's EU policy of something else entirely? To devise an appropriate response, the EU should contrast this perceived assertiveness with China's long-term interests. In all, assertive behavior undermines Chinese policy goals, which hints that there may be other considerations guiding these Chinese representatives.
The “Faceless Evildoers” of Cabo Delgado: an Islamist Insurgency in Mozambique?
A brief assessment about the emergence of a jihadi group in Mozambique
Jihad globale o insurgency locale? L'ISIS in Africa, da Boko Haram allo Stato Islamico nel Grande Sahara
This chapter sums up the evolution of jihadi activity in Mali and around Lake Chad, connecing local events to the concurrent emergence and evolution of the Islamic State.
The Origins of Boko Haram, and Why the War on Terror Matters
This article, prompted as a response to a recent contribution penned by Audu Bulama Bukarti,returns to the history of an incident occurred in 2003 between the Nigerian security and a group of militants popularly known as the “Nigerian Taliban” and considered as a precursor to Boko Haram. While the historiography around this incident has been almost saturated by debates around the size of the links between the “Nigerian Taliban” and al-Qaeda, that period of Nigerian history continues to be read in isolation from the broader counter-terrorism strategies conceived at the time by the Nigerian State in the context of what, for us, is a fundamental structural factor, i.e. the then mounting Global War on Terror. Drawing on a different set of data than Bukarti, our contribution will argue that, far from having been a “local” incident, the “Nigerian Taliban crisis” shows clear signs of how, at the time, the Nigerian space was being penetrated by the War on Terror’s strategic logic, discursive structures and political imperatives. The successive explosion, over the following years, of the “Boko Haram phenomenon”, is in our opinion the result of the latter as much as of the former.
When every act is war: Post-Crimea conflict dynamics and Russian foreign policy (WARU)
Tension between great powers in world politics is escalating rapidly. What are the driving forces behind deteriorating relations? Can we explain them solely by the ‘aggressiveness’ of the other (be th...