Publikasjoner

The UN at War: Peace Operations in a New Era

This book is a critical political and institutional reflection on UN peace operations. It provides constructive suggestions as to how the UN and the international system can evolve to remain relevant and tackle the peace and security challenges of the 21st century, without abandoning the principles that the UN was founded upon and on which the legitimacy of UN peace operations rests. The author analyses the evolving politics on UN peace operations of the five veto powers of the UN Security Council, as well as major troop-contributing countries and western powers. He investigates the move towards peace enforcement and counter-terrorism, and what consequences this development may have for the UN. Karlsrud issues a challenge to practitioners and politicians to make sure that the calls for reform are anchored in a desire to improve the lives of people suffering in conflicts on the ground—and not spurred by intra-organizational turf battles or solely the narrow self-interests of member states. Finally, he asks how the UN can adapt its practices to become more field- and people-centered, in line with its core, primary commitments of protecting and serving people in need. “An excellent resource for researchers, policy-makers, practitioners and students, this work provides a very useful analysis on the past, present and future of peace missions, as well as how they have and could face the challenges of today’s world.” —Séverine Autesserre, Associate Professor, Barnard College,Columbia University, USA “The international community and the new Secretary-General will have a chance to initiate meaningful, transformative reforms in the way the United Nations addresses social, political and security challenges; the road map is provided by John Karlsrud, highly recommended to all international peace and security academics and practitioners.” —José Ramos-Horta, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former President and Prime Minister of Timor Leste “This is the most current, up-to-date assessment of UN Peace Operations available. A must-read for both analysts and practitioners of peacekeeping.” —Lise Morjé Howard, Georgetown University, USA

Between self-interest and solidarity: Norway’s return to UN peacekeeping?

This edited volume provides a comprehensive analysis of European approaches to United Nations peacekeeping by assessing past practice, present obstacles and future potentials related to nine core European countries’ contributions to blue helmet operations. By providing in-depth case studies on Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Sweden, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom, this book offers an evaluation of European approaches as well as a wide range of facilitating and constraining factors related to the above mentioned countries’ future involvement in UN peacekeeping. The book places particular emphasis on the recent involvement of European countries in the UN operation in Mali (MINUSMA) and explores to what extent this experience might lead to further marked increases of European supplies of troops and capabilities and thus a broader ‘European return’ to UN peacekeeping. Each chapter offers an up-to-date case study on key countries’ policies, challenges and opportunities for a stronger re-engagement in UN Peacekeeping It provides a comprehensive analysis of the main challenges and concrete ways ahead for overcoming institutional, political, financial and military obstacles (both at European capitals and within the UN system) on the path towards a stronger re-engagement of European troop contributing countries in the field of UN Peacekeeping. Furthermore, each chapter includes a set of policy-relevant recommendations for future ways ahead. The chapters in this book were originally published in International Peacekeeping.

Mali: A Political Economy Analysis

Nepal: A Political Economy Analysis

This report is an integrated political economy analysis of Nepal. The main finding is that economic growth and poverty reduction have been steady in Nepal since the mid-1980s independently of a number of political upheavals, including ten years of civil war. The growth has been driven by remittances and an upward pressure on wages in local labor markets. As a result, poverty has declined and social indicators have improved. Despite the availability of private capital and increases in wages for the poor, there is still a massive need for public investments in infrastructure, agriculture, health, and education. In the political domain the recent local elections will reintroduce local democracy after 20 years. Elected local politicians are expected to boost local development efforts. The leading political forces in Nepal are the political parties. There are close links between politicians and business leaders, the political parties control the trade-unions, have links to civil society organizations, and the parties select high-level government officials. The civil war and the post-war ethnic uprising led to demands for an ethnic based federal republic. A compromise federal map was decided in 2015, with provincial elections scheduled for the fall of 2017. There are concerns that the ethnic agenda may escalate ethnic conflicts, and it will be essential for all parties to work for participation of all social groups within the recently established local units, as well as in the economy at large.

Handelspolitikken under Trump

Artikkelen analyserer USAs handelspolitikk under president Trump, nærmere ett år etter Trumps valgseier. Trumps handelspolitikk innebærer slutten på 70 år med USA i ledelsen for det globale handelssystemet. Trumps politikk er fortsatt i utvikling, og bare ¼ av nøkkelstillingene i Trumps administrasjon er besatt. Trumps handelspolitikk er i noen grad en fortsettelse av en trend som har vært synlig det siste tiåret, med gryende polarisering mellom USA og Kina, og strid om hvor bindende det internasjonale samarbeidet i WTO (Verdens Handelsorganisasjon) skal være. Trumps handelspolitikk hviler på en forenklet analyse av USAs handelsunderskudd der handelsavtalene gis skylden; og en tilhørende aggressiv handelspolitikk det handelsavtaler skal reforhandles for å redusere det amerikanske handelsunderskuddet. Analysen gir støtte til at ubalanserte handelsavtaler kan ramme arbeidsplassene, og at ubalansert handel er et problem som bør tas mer alvorlig i handelslitteraturen. Kinas har også satt vestlig industri under press, men dette skyldes Kinas vekst snarere enn handelsavtalene. Balanserte handelsavtaler kan gi både arbeidsplasser og billigere import, og er derfor oftest en del av løsningen snarere enn problemet. Ved å bygge på handelsavtalene kan man dessuten utvikle globale regelverk som skaper like vilkår i den globale konkurransen. I motsetning til sine forgjengere kan Trump komme til å bryte med det internasjonale handelssystemet og svekke internasjonalt samarbeid. Trumps økonomiske nasjonalisme kan være til skade for både handelspartnere og det globale handelssystemet. I tillegg kan USA komme til å skyte seg selv i foten fordi proteksjonismen kan ha en betydelig kostnad; spesielt i en tid med omfattende internasjonale verdikjeder.

Moral authority and status in International Relations: Good states and the social dimension of status seeking

We develop scholarship on status in international politics by focusing on the social dimension of small and middle power status politics. This vantage opens a new window on the widely-discussed strategies social actors may use to maintain and enhance their status, showing how social creativity, mobility, and competition can all be system-supporting under some conditions. We extract lessons for other thorny issues in status research, notably questions concerning when, if ever, status is a good in itself; whether it must be a positional good; and how states measure it.

Public Brainpower: Civil Society and Natural Resource Management

This book discusses how civil society, public debate and freedom of speech affect the management of natural resources. Drawing on the work of Robert Dahl, Jürgen Habermas and Robert Putnam, the book introduces the concept of public brainpower. Good governance of natural resources requires fertile public debate – to conceive new institutions, to provide checks and balances on existing institutions and to ensure their continuous dynamic evolution as the needs of society change. The book explores the strengths and weaknesses of these ideas through case studies of 18 oil and gas-producing countries: Algeria, Angola, Azerbaijan, Canada, Colombia, Egypt, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Libya, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, the UK and Venezuela. The concluding chapter presents 10 tenets on how states can maximize their public brainpower, as well as a ranking of how well 33 resource-rich countries have succeeded in doing so. Four of the chapters – ‘Introduction’, ‘Norway’, ‘Kazakhstan’ and ‘Russia’ – are available under a CC BY 4.0 Open Access license at ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320656629_Introduction_Civil_Society_Public_Debate_and_Natural_Resource_Management (Introduction) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320657120 (Norway) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320657015 (Kazakhstan) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320657842 (Russia)

The Duty of Care for Citizens Abroad: Security and Responsibility in the In Amenas and Fukushima Crises

This article analyses the state’s duty of care (DoC) for citizens who fall victim to unforeseen catastrophic or violent events abroad. The DoC highlights the challenges, dynamics and relations involved in diplomatic practice that is aimed at protecting citizens outside of state borders and where traditional security concepts have little relevance. How has a globalized, more insecure world — with shifting relations and responsibilities among states, their subordinates and other carers — affected the provision of DoC? How do governments and private actors act on the DoC during and after crises? To illustrate, the article draws on the terrorist attack at a gas facility in Algeria in 2013 and the nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011, focusing particularly on the Norwegian framework and approach to protecting citizens abroad. In both crises, implementing the DoC required practical skills and measures beyond traditional diplomacy and institutionalized crisis mechanisms.

Strengthening the Peace and Governance Nexus within the African Union. Enhancing synergy between the African Governance Architecture (AGA) and the...

The vision of the African Union (AU) is to achieve “an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the global arena”. The attainment of that vision hinges on three foundational imperatives: democratic governance, peace and security, and sustainable development. The focus of this report is on the interlinkages between democratic governance on the one hand and peace and security on the other. The report examines the two overarching mechanisms that were established by the AU to strengthen democratic governance and attain peace and security; namely the African Governance Architecture (AGA) and the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA).

Negotiating Brexit: what do the UK’s negotiating partners want? I contribute with a chapter