Publikasjoner
The Humanitarian-Development Nexus: A Bridge Too Far?
In their basic and caricature forms, development aid and humanitarian assistance highlight important differences that materialize in attitudinal, institutional, and funding obstacles in the implementation of the humanitarian-development nexus. While the nexus is implemented in order to respond to new types of crises characterised by the protracted nature of the conflicts, cooperation across the aisle has proved hard to achieve in practice. However, policymakers and practitioners have different perspectives on the nexus, and depending on the individual practitioners tasked with implementing the nexus, it can still work. To achieve this, boundary work is needed in order to overcome the distinct segments of the nexus’ constituent parts working in silos. To foster such boundary work, actors responsible for implementing the nexus in practice should be given greater autonomy so that the nexus is better sensitised to local actors, contexts and concerns, rather than being driven by headquarters’ policy demands.
Waging Peace, towards an Africa Union Stabilisation Strategy for Somalia
Over the last few years, successful military operations across Somalia have helped to unshackle towns south of Mogadishu from al Shabaab, demonstrating the capacity of the African Union Mission to Somalia (amisom) to achieve parts of its mandate. However, friction between the Federal Government of Somalia and the Federal Member States have heightened tensions and rifts over elections, state management and overall security, despite significant international support. Despite amisom s efforts, the legacies of the 1990s civil war have remained unresolved, and state restoration has been disrupted by political, clannish, environmental and structural challenges. In contrast, al Shabaab remains adaptable, resilient and exploits grievances, local dynamics, and competition over resources. This paper argues, the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council needs to re-mandate and reinforce amisom in conjunction with an AU stabilisation strategy for Somalia which exploits experiences from the AU’s Regional Stabilisation Strategy for the Lake Chad Basin.
Innledning. Fokus: Krigen og forskningen
Russlands angrep på Ukraina 24. februar kom overraskende på mange. Det medførte flere debatter i media, der forskere kritiserte hverandre for å ikke ha sett hva som var på gang, for å ha vist for stor forståelse for Putin-regimets posisjoner, og for å la sine politiske holdninger farge analysen. I denne Fokus-spalten vil vi forsøke å løfte disse diskusjonene opp på et akademisk nivå. Ikke for å fordele skyld, men for å ta faglig lærdom. I denne innledningsteksten vil jeg blant annet peke på behovet for mer analytisk bredde, for å fokusere på både språk og materialitet, og for å være ekstra bevisst på egne holdninger når man beveger seg inn i en normativ politisk debatt.
End of an era: Future of Nordic security from a Finnish perspective
Med fullskalaangrepet på Ukraina krysset Russland en rød linje for Finland, noe som fikk landet til å forlate sin mangeårige militære alliansepolitikk og søke NATO-medlemskap. Finland beveger seg dermed bort fra mange tiår med vektlegging av gode relasjoner til nabolandet i øst til fordel for en tydeligst mulig avskrekkingsholdning. Dette medfører et sammenhengende område med NATO-medlemskap for de fem nordiske landene, og dette alliansefellesskapet vil føre med seg nye ambisjonsnivåer i det regionale rammeverket til NORDEFCO som hittil har vært blokkert av at Finland og Sverige forble utenfor NATOs kommandostruktur.
På hvilke områder har Norge best forutsetninger for å bidra til å styrke det nordiske forsvarssamarbeidet?
International Cooperation in the Arctic 2035 – The Four Scenarios
The Arctic has always fascinated people; its history, its present, and its future. The future of the Arctic has increasingly become a subject of academic research and the application of scenario methodology. Scenarios can be defined as pro- spective storytelling (Schoemaker, 1993), presenting a set of plausible, contrasting images of the future (Schatzmann et al., 2013), and indicating what alternative futures might look like (Amer et al., 2013). Studies offering scenarios of future development of the Arctic include Brigham (2007), Myllylä et al. (2016), Lazariva et al. (2021), Petrov et al. (2021), Haavisto et al. (2016), and Bourmistrov et al. (2015); see also the chapter by Krivorotov in this volume. The farther we look ahead, the more uncertain the future appears. There can never be full consensus on what major trends and driving forces will have the greatest impact on the future. But precisely for this reason, any kind of structured thought experiment, such as scenario development, is valuable and can add new knowledge and shared understanding.
ASEAN’s energy transition: how to attract more investment in renewable energy
The energy transition is progressing slowly in the ten member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). To achieve ASEAN’s target of 23% renewables in the primary energy supply by 2025, the region would need to invest USD 27 billion in renewable energy every year. However, the ASEAN countries attracted no more than USD 8 billion annually from 2016 to 2021. Through a comparative review of three key factors for attracting investment—renewable energy legislation, energy governance reform, and general conditions for investors—this study examines why the region’s renewable energy sector has not attracted more capital. The contribution of the article is threefold. First, it develops a new review model for assessing the business climate for renewable energy in any country. Second, it offers an update on the state of renewable energy deployment in the ASEAN countries. Third, taking into account international best practices, it identifies the obstacles and solutions to attracting investment in renewable energy in Southeast Asia. The article finds that carbon lock-in is pervasive, regulatory practices have been copy-pasted from the fossil-fuel sector to the renewables sector, and, except for Malaysia and Vietnam, no ASEAN country has implemented a major pro-renewable energy governance reform. Certain advanced renewable energy measures, such as auctions and feed-in tariffs, have been adopted in some member states, but the institutional capacity to implement them is limited. The share of renewables in the energy governance system needs to be increased.
The environmental burdens of special economic zones on the coastal and marine environment: A remote sensing assessment in Myanmar
Post Post-Sovjet, stil og opprør: Symbolikk og subversiv nasjonalisme i Gosja Rubtsjinskijs «nye Russland»
Artikkelen utforsker gatemotedesigner Gosja Rubtsjinskijs resonans blant unge russere, og det omfattende nettverket som har vokst frem under hans vinger og referer til seg selv som «det nye Russland». En diskursanalytisk lesning, med Dick Hebdiges semiotiske tilnærming som epistemologisk kontekst, belyst av innsikter fra Simon Reynolds, Michel Foucault og Michel Maffesoli, avslører en stadig dekonstruksjon av russiske myndigheters hegemoniske fortelling om russiskhet – den såkalte «putinismen». Samtidig bygger designeren opp en motkulturell form for russisk nasjonal tilhørighet, som har plass til dem som ikke føler seg hjemme i Putins nasjonale fortelling. Fra et samfunnsvitenskapelig perspektiv fremstår et subkulturelt inklusivt nasjonsbyggingsprosjekt i seg selv som paradoksalt, så hvordan kan vi egentlig forstå Gosja Rubtsjinskijs «nye Russland?»