The war in Ukraine and multilateralism as we know it
Multilateralism was in trouble long before Russia invaded Ukraine: Increased rivalry between China and Russia, on the one hand, and the US and its allies, on the other, has made the most important international decision making body – the UN Security Council –less capable than before of addressing core issues on its agenda. For sure, the Council has renewed mandates for existing peace operations, but have not been able to establish new ones to address on-going conflicts. With the war in Ukraine and the seeming solidification of closer ties between Russia and China, there is reason to expect that multilateral decision making will deteriorate further.
Nye allierte, nye mulighetsrom: Norge og Finland i en endret sikkerhetspolitisk kontekst (NORFIN)
Norge og Finland har lenge vært nære samarbeidspartnere i sikkerhets- og forsvarspolitikken. Med Finlands NATO-søknad blir de to landene også allierte. Dette prosjektet vil analysere mulighetsrommet f...
Russlandsforskere, hva nå?
Russlands krig mot Ukraina har enorme konsekvenser, først og fremst for Ukraina, men også for Russland og Russlands andre nabostater. Krigen har ikke bare kastet om på europeisk og norsk sikkerhets- og utenrikspolitikk, den vil ha store konsekvenser også for den norske forskningen på, og kunnskapen om, Russland. Mulighetene for forskning i Russland har blitt stadig mer begrenset over flere år, og etter februar 2022 er døren nærmest helt stengt. Samtidig er kunnskap om Russland viktig for Norge, som deler grense og forvalter kritiske ressurser i samarbeid med Russland. Slik vil det fortsette å være. Spørsmålet nå er hvordan denne kunnskapen skal skapes og oppdateres, gitt at rammebetingelsene som den norske forskningen på Russland de siste 30 årene har blitt produsert under, har endret seg dramatisk. Hvordan skal vi oppdatere norsk kunnskap om Russland i årene fremover? Hvilke metoder og data er tilgjengelige, og hva kan vi forvente av disse?
Africa in 2022
Dr Andrew E. Yaw Tchie shares his assessment on what have been the most significant issues shaping Africa in 2022.
Johanna Kettenbach
Johanna Kettenbach er doktorgradsstipendiat i Forskningsgruppen for fred, konflikt og utvikling hos NUPI og er doktorgradsstudent i sosiologi ved...
Íris Andradóttir
Íris var masterstudent ved Universitetet i Oslo og tilknyttet forskningsgruppen for fred, konflikt og utvikling.
The humanitarian-development nexus: humanitarian principles, practice, and pragmatics
The humanitarian–development nexus is increasingly being cast as the solution to humanitarian concerns, new and protracted crises, and to manage complex war-to-peace transitions. Despite widely endorsed amongst policymakers, this nexus presents some challenges to those implementing it. Humanitarian action and development assistance represent two distinct discursive and institutional segments of the international system that are hard to juxtapose. Humanitarianism’s apolitical and imminent needs-based approaches building on established humanitarian principles are fundamentally different from the more long-term, political, rights-based approaches of development. As they rub shoulders, as intentionally instigated by the nexus, they affect and challenge each other. These challenges are more acute to the humanitarian domain given the constitutive status of the humanitarian principles, which, when challenged, may cause changes to the humanitarian space and a mission-cum-ethics creep. This article explores the formation and effects of the humanitarian–development nexus as rendered both at the top, amongst policymakers, and from the bottom. The latter explores the discursive transition from conflict to reconstruction in Northern Uganda. Humanitarian organisations’ different response to the transition demonstrate more pragmatic approaches to the humanitarian principles and thus how the nexus itself is also formed bottom up and further exacerbates the mission creep.
The subsea cable cut at Svalbard January 2022: What happened, what were the consequences, and how were they managed?
Svalbard is, like most other societies, largely dependent on an internet connection. The fiber connection on Svalbard consists of two separate subsea cables that connect Longyearbyen to the mainland. In some areas the cables were buried about two meters below the seabed, especially in areas where fishing is done, to “protect against destruction of the fishing fleet’s bottom trawling or anchoring of ships. (New version uploaded 18 January 2023)
The localisation of aid - debate and challenges
The localisation agenda resurfaced with the Covid 19-pandemic among development and humanitarian actors. Aid localisation refers to providing aid through local, grassroots institutions without the use of intermediaries, which involves a shift in power over policy and financial issue to local actors.