Balancing between integration and autonomy. Understanding the drivers and mechanisms of EU's foreign, security and defense policy (EUFLEX)
The project will investigate the ongoing process towards differentiated integration in European foreign, security and defence policy....
Militser inntar regjeringskontorene i Irak
Militslederen Muqtada al-Sadr kom seirende ut fra det nylige valget i Irak, og nå tar han trolig med seg Iran-vennlige militser inn i regjering.
The family of nations. Kinship as an international ordering principle in the nineteenth century.
This chapter suggests that the phrase ‘the family of nations’ for a long time was more commonly deployed amongst international actors themselves to describe ‘the international’ than more common concepts in contemporary IR scholarship such as ‘international system’, ‘society’, and ‘community’. The authors argue that in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the concept of a family of nations was integral to legitimizing strategies for coercive measures and colonial rule.
The Russia Conference: Cold Peace in the Arctic?
On September 14, NUPI’s Russia Conference took place in Oslo. Couldn’t be there? Watch the entire event, including Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide's key note speech, on YouTube.
UK’s foreign policy in Europe after Brexit
What will the British foreign policy look like after the Brexit negotiations finish next year?
PODCAST: Democratic capitalism in crisis?
Wolfgang Streeck explains what he means when he says that that democratic capitalism is in crisis – and shares his take on how the crisis evolved.
Norge, USA og folkeretten
(Available in Norwegian only): Når det gjelder USA og folkeretten, er problemet ikke så mye Trump, som at USA konsekvent bryter de verdiene de selv forfekter, skriver Minda Holm i denne kronikken.
Xi og Kina på terskelen til en ny tid
(Available in Norwegian only): Etter fem år med Xi Jinping ved roret for den spirende supermakten Kina, ser verden allerede annerledes ut. Beijing har i økende grad beveget seg mot begivenhetenes sentrum i en tid hvor globale institusjoner har blitt svekket av krefter fra mange sider, og den allerede pågående maktforskyvningen østover har blitt påskyndet av Trump-administrasjonens isolasjonistiske slagside.Når så både Kinas og verdens politiske strukturer er i rask og grunnleggende endring, mens mer politisk og økonomisk makt forskyves til Kina, og makten i Kina i økende grad konsentreres hos Xi Jinping, er kunnskap om de sosiale, økonomiske og politiske prosessene innad i Kina vitalt viktige. I en slik betydningsfull periode for Kina er det dermed særdeles betimelig at fire nordiske forfattere har bidratt med nyutkomne bøker som analyserer og belyser de viktigste trendene i den påbegynte Xi-æraen. Disse verkene skiller seg noe ad, fra Stein Ringens politiske taksonomi av ettpartistaten Kina, til Börje Lundgrens encyklopediske ettbindsverk, og de to redigerte bokutgivelsene av henholdsvis Ross & Bekkevold og Ross & Tunsjø, som begge skilter med et mangfold av ledende bidragsytere. Til felles har dog disse bøkene at hovedfokuset er på Kinas interne utfordringer, det nye lederskapets rolle under Xi, og hvordan disse interne politiske prosessene kan gi seg utslag internasjonalt. De er med andre ord gode bøker til rett tid, og er verdt å motta oppmerksomhet fra så vel Kina-forskere som den jevne samfunnsborger.
A Command-Chain of Brothers: Kinship in Chinese Foreign Policy
If kinship matters as a foundational concept in international relations, and if kinship is a socially constituted concept, two key claims for which this volume argues, one would assume that when kinship is constituted differently, the concept will also frame international relations in a differing way? A tacit Eurocentric assumption is underpinning many of the treatises on the importance of kinship. The concept of brotherhood in particular, is commonly regarded as a structuring concept that is fundamental and intuitively recognizable for the entire‘brotherhood of man’. That Western concepts of brotherhood, intimately connected to the rise of the Westphalian state order, are now widespread as a frame of reference, should not preclude us from investigating how differently constituted kinship relations may be relevant, both historically and in contemporary international relations. In particular, this should hold true in a world where two of the three largest economic powers, namely China and Japan, are societies where kinship relations traditionally are constituted differently in some core aspects. This chapter investigates these questions through an exploratory study of Chinese foreign policies, and how the traditional Confucian brotherhood concept may have been intertwined with how foreign relations have been talked and thought about in two key eras of Chinese history; first in the case of imperial China’s struggle with neighbouring states demanding equal relations, second with regards to China’s long transition into the Westphalian state system. Following on this is a brief look on how Chinese kinship concepts might have relevance for even current-day Chinese foreign policy.
How has Trump pushed Europe and Asia together?
One of the unforeseen consequences of President Trump’s erratic foreign policy has been to push Europe and Asia closer together. This is what Fraser Cameron will argue when he visits NUPI on 19 September.