The Rebalance to Asia Under Trump
Attempts to predict the future shape of President Donald Trump’s defence policy in the Asia-Pacific are a challenge, at best. Nevertheless, Patrick Cullen argues that, in contrast to early assumptions that he would initiate a more isolationist defence policy and break with the previous administration’s Rebalance to Asia policy, Trump is more likely to adopt a hawkish – if unpredictable – enforcement of the policy’s key defence objectives. Gauging whether the Trump administration will bring either change from, or continuity with, the military component of the Rebalance to Asia policy will require keeping an eye on each of the policy’s subcategories.
Radicalization and foreign fighters in the Kosovo context: An analysis of international media coverage of the phenomena
This working paper takes a critical look at the written coverage of issues of jihadi radicalization and foreign fighters from Kosovo, identifying key themes, assumptions, and areas where the press seems to have missed certain points. The paper is based on an extensive survey of written English-language media coverage retrieved online, secondary NGO/grey and academic literature, as well as some 50 original interviews with experts, frontline practitioners, policymakers and donors conducted in Prishtina, Brussels, or via Skype. While not attempting to provide a full picture, the paper identifies points on which the international media coverage seems to have got matters wrong, and areas where the evidence calls for greater nuancing. These include the number of foreign fighters, the reasons for radicalization and why people have travelled to Syria, as well as the government’s response.
Commentary: Neighbors in a changed terrain
Forrige uke publiserte regjeringen et nytt strategidokument for nordområdene. Denne kommentaren tar for seg noen av de viktigste temaene på det internasjonale feltet i strategien.
Montenegros integrasjon til EU og NATO i utfordrande tider
Montenegro er i ferd med å bli NATOs 29. medlem, og er dermed det første landet frå Vest-Balkan sidan Kroatia blei medlem i 2009. I samband med dette kjem Montenegros europaminister for å dele sitt syn på situasjonen.
Lunsjseminar: Al-Qaida i Afghanistan - eit alternativt perspektiv
Konsortium for forsking på terrorisme og internasjonal kriminalitet har gleda av å ønskje Anne Stenersen velkommen for å snakke om den nye boka si som gir eit anna perspektiv på al-Qaida.
EUs globale strategi i ei endra verd
Det har skjedd store endringar i Europa og resten av verda i løpet av det siste året. Korleis påverkar dette EUs globale strategi?
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.