The impact of climate change on peace and security in Somalia
A new collaborative NUPI-SIPRI project examines how climate change affect peace and security in states and regions on the UN Security Council's agenda. On 4 February, the project launched its first fact sheet, looking into Somalia.
The Chechen post-war diaspora in Norway and their visions of legal models
This article examines how understandings of the rule of law are shaped in the Chechen diaspora in Norway. Taking as our point of departure studies of legal pluralism and the co-existence of traditional Adat, religious Sharia and Russian secular law in Chechnya, we examine the effect of living in a host country by asking: How do members of the Chechen diaspora, here defined as conflict-generated diaspora, view and internalize legal models in Norway? What type of state governance do they see as ideal for themselves and for Chechnya in the future? Further: what might the underlying explanation for their choices be? We assume that just as different waves of violence in Chechnya created different diaspora communities that today exhibit specific social, cultural and political traits, the latest wave of forced emigration to Europe after the post-Soviet Russo–Chechen wars may have made specific imprints on the legal preferences of this diaspora. The picture that emerges from our in-depth individual interviews and surveys is one of gradual adaptation and adjustment to Norwegian state governance and rule of law, demonstrating the complex and co-constitutive relationships between changing identities and legal preferences.
The Palgrave Handbook of EU Crises
The Palgrave Handbook of EU crises comprehensively explores the European Union’s institutional and policy responses to crises across policy domains and institutions – including the Euro crisis, Brexit, the Ukraine crisis and other foreign policy crises, the migration crisis, the legitimacy crisis and the global health crisis resulting from Covid-19. It contributes to our understanding of how crises affect institutional change and continuity, decision-making behavior and processes, and public policy making. If offers a systematic discussion of how the existing repertoire of theories understand crises and how well they capture times of crises and events of disintegration. More generally, the handbook looks at how public organizations cope with crises, and thus probes how sustainable and resilient public organizations are in times of crisis and unrest.
Training for Peace 2020 - 2025 (TfP)
In its new phase (2020-2025) the TfP will strengthen its partnership and collaboration with the African Union, by providing applied research, policy support and capacity-building....
Navigating de facto statehood: trade, trust, and agency in Abkhazia's external economic relations
What opportunities and trade-offs do de facto states encounter in developing economic ties with the outside world? This article explores the complex relationship between trade and trust in the context of contested statehood. Most de facto states are heavily dependent on an external patron for economic aid and investment. However, we challenge the widespread assumption that de facto states are merely hapless pawns in the power-play of their patrons. Such an approach fails to capture the conflict dynamics involved. Drawing on a case study of Abkhazia, we explore how this de facto state navigates between its "patron" Russia, its "parent state" Georgia, and the EU. The conflict transformation literature has highlighted the interrelationship between trust and trade – but how does this unfold in the context of continued nonrecognition and contested statehood? Does trade serve to facilitate trust and hence prospects for conflict transformation? With Abkhazia, we find scant correlation between trust and trade: in the absence of formal recognition, trade does not necessarily facilitate trust. However, the interrelationship between trade, trust, and recognition proves more complex than expected: we find less trust in the patron and more trade with the parent than might have been anticipated.
Daniella Slabinski
Daniella Slabinski was a Research Assistant in the Research group on Russia, Asia and international trade.
In the shadow of the virus Varieties of power in the COVID-19 crisis in Venezuela
While all states face massive challenges when responding to COVID-19, some are in a more precarious position than others. In Venezuela, the pandemic arrived at the worst possible time for its citizens. Facing one of the deepest economic crises outside of wartime in recent years, its consequences have spilled over to all aspect of social life.1 However, the timing seems to have suited the leaders of the Venezuelan regime well. Rather than constituting a threat to the stability of a regime that has lost both democratic legitimacy and the capacity to provide services and security, the government of Nicolas Maduro (2013-present) has seemingly managed to consolidate itself after several years of instability. The starting point of the discussion is an apparent paradox: how can a regime with neither legitimacy nor capacity, two commonly invoked criteria for effective crisis management, strengthen itself during a crisis such as that spurred by COVID-19? The brief presents an overview of how the Venezuelan regime has responded to COVID-19, and how the government of Nicolás Maduro has applied different strategies to consolidate a favorable political status quo. It takes as its starting point three concepts, namely “state capacity,” “legitimacy,” and “power,” all of which are frequently upheld as fundamental for understanding the varying ways in which states have responded to the pandemic. It highlights how relative power relations have shifted in recent years, and how the pandemic has contributed to skewing the balance of power further in favor of the Maduro government.
Andrew E. Yaw Tchie
Dr Andrew E. Yaw Tchie is a Senior Researcher in the Research group on peace, conflict and development. At NUPI, he works on stabilisation, peace...
Paul Beaumont
Paul Beaumont holds a Ph.D. in International Relations/International Environmental Studies and Development from the Norwegian University of Life S...
Framing Peace Operations in a Changing Global Landscape
Today is the first day of this year’s Virtual Challenges Annual Forum VCAF20, which runs from 7 to 11 December 2020, with the overarching theme “Framing Peace Operations in a Changing Global Landscape”. The Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) is co-hosting the event together with the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in South Africa, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia.