EUNPACK Executive Summary of the Final Report & Selected Policy Recommendations. A conflict-sensitive unpacking of the eu comprehensive approach to...
Since adopting a ‘comprehensive approach’ to crisis management in 2013, the EU has spent considerable time and energy on streamlining its approach and improving internal coordina¬tion. New and protracted crises, from the conflict in Ukraine to the rise of Daesh in Syria and Iraq, and the refugee situation in North Africa and the Sahel, have made the improvement of external crisis-response capacities a top priority. But the implementation of the EU’s policies on the ground has received less scholarly and policy attention than the EU’s actorness and institutional capacity-building, and studies of implementation have often been guided primarily by a theoretical or normative agenda. The main objective of the EUNPACK project has been to unpack EU crisis response mecha¬nisms and provide new insights how they are being received and perceived on the ground by both local beneficiaries and other external stakeholders. By introducing a bottom–up perspective combined with an institutional approach, the project has tried to break with the dominant line of scholarship on EU crisis response that has tended to view only one side of the equation, namely the EU itself. Thus, the project has been attentive to the local level in target countries as well as to the EU level and the connections between them. The research has been conducted through an inductive and systematic empirical research combining competencies from two research traditions that so far has had little interaction, namely peace and conflict studies and EU studies. A key finding in our research is that while the EU has been increasingly concerned with horizontal lessons learnt, it needs to improve vertical lessons learnt to better understand the local dynamics and thus provide more appropriate responses.
EUNPACKs sluttkonferanse: ei samanfatting av tre år med forsking på EUs kriserespons
Konfliktsensitivitet var i sentrum då det treårige NUPI-leia forskingsprosjektet på EUs kriserespons (EUNPACK) arrangerte ein avslutningskonferanse i Brussel 18-20. mars.
The Arctic Council and US domestic policymaking
One widely recognized achievement of the Arctic Council and its various working groups has been the production of collectively generated assessments on Arctic problems. Assessment reports such as the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) provide an important baseline of shared knowledge for making collective circumpolar policy recommendations. But how does the knowledge produced through Arctic Council working groups figure into the policymaking of the Arctic states? This is an important question for understanding Arctic politics and the relationship between national decisionmaking and international relations more generally. Much of what the Arctic Council produces is in the form of recommendations, declarations of intent, and commitments to "best practices" in areas of shared interest and activity. While in recent years the Council has produced three binding agreements covering specific functional areas—search and rescue (2011), oil pollution preparedness and response (2013),and science cooperation (2017)—much ongoing Arctic collaborative work falls outside of these areas. This policy brief explores how science/policy outputs of and discussions at the Arctic Council fit into the Arctic political discourse of the USA, with an emphasis on key actors within the executive branch: the White House, the Department of the Interior, and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Korleis kan EU betre kriseresponsen sin?
Forskarar i og utanfor Europa har studert EUs tilnærming til krise og konflikt.
Digital sovereignty and autonomy (GAIA)
NUPI in collaboration with Simula Research Lab will map global data flows and their impact on national autonomy and sovereignty....
For the greater good?: “Good states” turning UN peacekeeping towards counterterrorism
The usual suspects of middle power internationalism—small and middle powers such as Canada, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, and Sweden—have all contributed to the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali (MINUSMA). This article argues that while these and other Western countries’ contributions to MINUSMA may still be characterized as investments into UN peacekeeping reform and a rule-governed world order, the liberal underpinnings of that commitment are withering. Instead, these countries seek to enhance their own status. This is done by gaining appreciation for their contributions, primarily from the US; strengthening their bids for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council; and self-interested contributions to reformUNpeacekeeping by efforts to enable it to confront violent extremism and terrorism. Paradoxically, the article concludes, when moving the UN towards counterterrorism and weakening the legitimacy of the organization, Western states undermine a cornerstone of their own security.
Kampen om Europa
EUs idéhistoriske fundament ble bygget etter andre verdenskrig for å unngå en slik krig for all fremtid. Den franske utenriksministeren Robert Schuman startet EU-prosjektet ved å samordne de militært relevante europeiske kull- og stålindustriene, og innsatsen var allerede fra starten motivert av ønsket om fred og sikkerhet på kontinentet. Det var også for rollen som fredsprosjekt at EU fikk den kontroversielle fredsprisen i 2012. Selv om sikkerhet har vært sentralt i tenkningen om EU, har sikkerhets- og forsvarspolitikk vært «den stygge andungen» i forsøkene på tettere integrasjon. EU er gradvis blitt mer integrert gjennom traktater, men sikkerhetspolitisk samarbeid er blitt nedprioritert. Det har sin naturlige forklaring i at saksområdet har vært krevende å samordne. Sikring av ytre grenser og forsvar av territorium har vært kjernen av hva det vil si å være en suveren stat. Europa er et nasjonalstatens kontinent, tross EU.
Mot et nytt våpenkappløp i Europa og Asia?
- Jeg er ganske sikker på at risikoen for bruk av atomvåpen er betydelig høyere nå enn under den kalde krigen, sa Espen Barth Eide (Ap) på NUPI-seminar 11. mars. Hør ekspertsamtale om INF som NUPI Podcast.
Territorialstatens tilstand i dagens Midtøsten
Hvordan forstå Midtøsten i dag? Til tross for et enormt litterært landskap som forsøker å belyse denne komplekse regionen, er dette et spørsmål man ikke bør ta lett på. Dette bokessayet diskuterer hvordan de tre bøkene Brennpunkt Midtøsten: Byene som prisme (Butenschøn & Maktabi 2018), Fra opprør til kaos: Midtøsten etter den arabiske våren (Nordenson 2018) og Israel: Historie, politikk og samfunn (Heian-Engdal 2018) bidrar til vår forståelse av Midtøsten i dag. Selv om bøkene har ulike hovedfokus, har de til felles at de beskriver og analyser tilstanden til en rekke av regionens territorialstater. Selv om begreper som suverenitet og territoriell integritet ikke nødvendigvis gir mening i regionen i dag, redegjør bøkene for hvorfor det likevel ikke ser ut til at vi kommer til å se noen endringer i eksisterende statsdannelser i tiden som kommer.
Farlige forbindelser?
Den påståtte koblingen mellom franske høyrenasjonalister og Kreml er overdrevet. Men de felles interessene er der.