Brexit, Europa - og Norge
Forelesning om brexit-prosessen, og konsekvenser for Europa og norsk utenrikspolitikk. Del av Atlanterhavskomiteens årlige kurs i internasjonal politikk, arrangert i Norges syv største byer.
Between vulnerability and risk? Mental health in UK counter-terrorism
Forholdet mellom terrorisme og psykisk helse har vært gjenstand for forskning i flere tiår. Til nå har litteraturen konsentrert seg om forholdet mellom terrorisme og diagnostiserbare lidelser, samt om forekomsten av visse psykologiske trekk bland terrordømte. Spørsmålet om hvordan hensyn rundt psykisk helse blir inkorporert i kontraterror praksis har imidlertid ikke blitt belyst så langt. Denne artikkelen utforsker tre ulike tilnærminger til psykisk helse innen kontraterrorarbeid i Storbritannia: Bruken av ‘appropriate adults’ (tilnærmet tilsvarende ‘verge’) i terrorrelaterte saker, psykisk helse-sentrene som er etablert i Storbritannia for å oppnå bedre samarbeid mellom psykiatrien og politiet, samt risiko- og sårbarhetsvurderinger innen feltet. Artikkelen viser psykisk helse i økende grad synes å anses som en risiko- mer enn en sårbarhetsfaktor innenfor britisk kontraterror, og at grensene mellom hva som vurderes som risiko og sårbarhet på feltet er i ferd med å viskes ut.
From Direct Financing to Secularization: Rethinking State Policy towards Religious Institutions in Georgia
This policy paper aims at critically evaluating current policies of state funding for religious organizations in Georgia, arguing that the existing approach needs reassessment and reform. The paper argues that the current policies go beyond the frames of compensation of damage caused during the Soviet era, described in the 2002 Constitutional Agreement between State of Georgia and the Orthodox Autocephaly Church of Georgia. Regardless of the Agreement, the amounts of damage and compensation have not been calculated and yearly funding depends on the political will of the government, leaving ample room for arbitrary decisions. Moreover, the current policies are discriminatory, privileging the Orthodox Church, discriminating against religious minorities, and therefore jeopardizing the principles of secularism, religious freedom, and religious neutrality. This policy paper advances the argument that, considering the principle of secularism and religious neutrality, as well as the Constitution of Georgia, Georgian policymakers must rethink the existing policies of state funding to religious organizations and elaborate medium- and long-term strategies to refine the existing approach. Rather than maintaining the existing funding policies or eliminating state funding for religious organizations altogether, the state should take specific steps towards reforming the current legislation and practices. Specifically, the paper argues that, in the medium term, the state can ensure damage compensation for injustices experienced in the Soviet era after calculating the total amount of monetary or other support, as in the case of Hungary. In the longer term, support to religious institutions can be made voluntary, based on one’s belief (or non-belief), rather than political will of the authorities, as in the cases of Spain, Iceland, Finland, and Denmark.
Gender, Parenthood and Feelings of Safety in Greek Refugee Centres
Forced migration and displacement are often associated with increased exposure to various risks that negatively affect personal safety. While experiences of displaced populations are heterogeneous, women have been shown to be exposed to intersecting factors, such as vulnerability to gender-based violence, restricting cultural norms and discrimination. Being a mother—or at least responsible for the care of a child—while en route stands as another marginalizing factor. This article’s point of departure is the so-called European ‘refugee crisis’ that peaked in 2015 and examines the effects of gender and family on the experience of safety among refugees in six refugee centres in Greece. We explore how intersecting issues such as gender roles and being responsible for children impact individuals’ feelings of safety. Using descriptive statistics and regression analyses of survey data on 367 migrants in six Greek refugee centres, we find that female migrants are more likely to feel unsafe compared to males. However, our results indicate that gender differences in feelings of safety are minimal for those without children. While having children affects both genders’ feeling of safety, the effect is much greater for women than for men. Our conclusion is that dissimilar experiences of safety along gender dimension are conditioned by norms and obligations inscribed in social roles of parents and care-givers.
Fighting Violence Against Women: Laws, Norms & Challenges Ahead
Stadig flere land får lover som er ment å forhindre og straffe vold mot kvinner. Men fremdeles er det store utfordringer knyttet til implementering og etterlevelse av slike lover. I denne artikkelen ser vi på utviklingen av slik lovgivning rundt om i verden, med fokus på vold i nære relasjoner og seksuell trakassering. Vi avslutter med en diskusjon av noen av de utfordringene vi nå står overfor med hensyn til hvor langt man kan komme med lovgivning i kampen mot vold mot kvinner.
Forskere: Altfor lite midler til avgjørende klimaforskning
Forskere fra NUPI og University of Sussex har analysert over 11400 milliarder kroner i forskningsmidler. De mener en forsvinnende liten andel har blitt brukt til å finne svar på en av vår tids største utfordringer.
NUPI skal lede EU-finansiert forskningsprosjekt om voldelig ekstremisme
PREVEX skal kaste lys over hva som ligger bak voldelig ekstremisme.
‘Practice time!’ Doxic futures in security and defence diplomacy after Brexit
Time constitutes social life and time management is central to the everyday conduct of international politics. For some reason, however, the practice turn in International Relations (IR) has produced knowledge about how past practices constitute international politics but not about how the future is also a constitutive feature in and on social life. Introducing a novel perspective on practice and temporality, the article argues that intersubjectively situated representations of the future by practitioners in international politics contribute substantially to our understanding of political processes and the making of international politics. To develop what appears a contradiction in terms – that ‘future-practices’ are driven by tacit know-how and conscious reflection simultaneously – the article develops the concept of doxic futures: representations of the future rooted in practical knowledge and tacit assumptions about the self-evident nature of the social world. The argument is illustrated with a case study of European security and defence diplomacy after the UK voted to leave the EU. Through the envisioning of two concrete doxic futures, a ‘Europe of buying together’ and the UK as a third country in EU defence, diplomats effectively tried to save European security and defence cooperation from the potentially disintegrating effects of Brexit.
Har Vesten glemt Tsjetsjenia?
PODKAST: Ramzan Kadyrovs styre i Tsjetsjenia har kastet en bølge av frykt og undertrykkelse over den russiske republikken. Hva betyr det for menneskene som bor der, og for de som har flyktet fra Tsjetsjenia i frykt for hva de kan bli utsatt for? Hvorfor snakker vi ikke mer om dette her i Europa?