Global governance

Political change and historical analogies

This article deals with how scholars, policy analysts and activists, striving to make sense of current political change, have turned to history for analogies and ideas for action. While it is encouraging to see the Trump presidency and other instances of upheaval leading to a strengthened interest in history, in academe and public life more generally, there nevertheless is a need to caution against facile appropriations of the historical record and the use of superficial similarity to legitimize political action. I discuss ways of historicizing the present, through some examples of historical analogies applied to the first months of the Trump presidency and other relatively current instances of change. I start with a discussion of historical analogies and concepts, stressing how they can be understood as both first order and second order constructs. Then I discuss the current usage of historical analogies and concepts as both first order and second order constructs, before I conclude.

Iceland’s Relations with its Regional Powers: Alignment with the EU-US sanctions on Russia

The paper examines the Icelandic government’s consideration to withdraw its support for the sanctions against Russia over Ukraine in 2015. The consideration came as a surprise to many since Iceland in the past has habitually aligned itself closely with the United States and the European Union in such matters. The Icelandic fishing industry lobbied hard for the sanctions to be lifted to avoid Russian counter-sanctions on Iceland. After considerable internal debate, the government decided to uphold the sanctions, but settled on a policy of not taking part in EU´s foreign policy declarations about the sanctions. This move is interesting given Iceland’s traditional positioning between two gravitational centres in world politics: the EU and the US. The paper discusses what this case tells us about Icelandic policymakers’ room for maneuvering in the formulation and enactment of its foreign policy, and about Iceland’s foreign policy bonds to the US and the EU.

Norsk politi i internasjonal tjeneste 1989-2016

(Norwegian only): Denne rapporten dokumenterer erfaringer blant norsk politipersonell som har tjenestegjort i internasjonale operasjoner fra 1989 frem til i dag. Spørreskjemaet ble sendt til 440 personer, og det kom inn 277 svar: 78% fra menn, de resterende 22% fra kvinner. Flertallet av dem er fra 41 til 57 år og fortsatt ansatt i politiet. 57% har vært ute mer enn en gang, og 81% av de som har svart, har vært en eller flere ganger i Kosovo, Sør-Sudan, Afghanistan, Liberia, Palestina, Bosnia og Herzegovina eller Haiti (i synkende rekkefølge etter antall).

Norwegian Police in International Operations 1989-2016

This policy brief presents the main findings and recommendations from a longer survey-based report with the same title, documenting the experiences of Norwegian police personnel in international operations from 1989 until today. The purpose of the survey was to systematically gather the knowledge Norwegian police bring home from international operations, be they peace operations, stabilization missions or other assistance missions. This information is an important source of information for policymakers, practitioners and academics in order to understand the challenges Norwegian police have met, not only in the field but also before deployment and after return. This is meant to provide an improved knowledge base for developing new policy and practice for Norwegian police deployments and international police assistance.

Global Governance