Publikasjoner
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.
External Voting among Central European Migrants Living in Western Europe
Non-resident citizens’ participation in national elections is known as external voting. This report presents the first comparative dataset of external voting, both in parliamentary and presidential elections. We gathered voting results among migrants from nine Central and Eastern European countries, with the main analysis focusing on six where most data were available: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and Romania. The analysed countries of residence where diasporas cast their votes were Austria, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Finland, France, Great Britain, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden (EU members) as well as two countries belonging to the European Economic Area (Norway and Iceland) and Switzerland. How different are external voting results from those seen in countries of origin? What are the ideological differences between voting migrants and the ‘mean’ voter back home, and to what extent does that matter? These are some of the questions the data gathered may help shed light on.
Loss of Tonga’s telecommunication – what happened, how was it managed and what were the consequences?
In January 2022 the subsea volcano Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai in Tonga had a major eruption which also cut the country’s communication lines nationally, between Tonga’s inhabited islands and the outside world. The damage led to a complete halt in international communication (a “digital darkness”) which meant that, in the period immediately after the outbreak, not much was known about the extent of the damage in Tonga. Due to very limited access to contact with both the authorities and the population of Tonga, it was only during overflights carried out by the Australian and New Zealand air forces that one could begin to map the extent of the damage and the need for assistance.
Opportunities Matter: The Evolution of Far-Right Protest in Georgia
What role do political opportunities play in far-right mobilisation? The case of Georgia indicates that modernisation in itself may be insufficient to trigger a far-right backlash. A systematised database of 154 far-right protest events in Georgia in the period 2003–2020 shows that the movement remained dormant for over two decades after post-Soviet independence and a decade after the 2003 Rose Revolution. After 2012, however, less severe repression of protest, divides within the political elite, and the sympathetic attitudes of mainstream political and societal actors enabled far-right mobilisation and violence. Thus, however deep-rooted anti-modernisation, a backlash may not erupt until mobilisation opportunities become available.
Iran – revolusjon igjen?
Ei ung kvinnes død etter å ha blitt arrestert av moralpolitiet utløyste dei sterkaste protestane i Iran sidan revolusjonen i 1979. Den islamske republikken er tilbake der han starta.
Makt og avmakt i FNs sikkerhetsråd: Valgte medlemslands veier til innflytelse
FNs sikkerhetsråd består av fem faste og ti valgte medlemsland. Sistnevnte velges på rullerende basis, for to år av gangen. I 2021-22 har Norge vært et av disse valgte medlemslandene. Forskningslitteraturen viser gjerne til hvordan Sikkerhetsrådets handlingsrom begrenses av stormaktsinteresser og maktkampen mellom de fem vetolandene: USA, Kina, Russland, Storbritannia og Frankrike. Russlands angrep på Ukraina anskueliggjort disse utfordringene. I denne policy briefen ser vi nærmere på hvordan valgte medlemsland jobber for å øve innflytelse mens de sitter i Sikkerhetsrådet.
Climate Security Language in UN Peace Operation’s Mandates
Article 24 of the United Nations Charter confers the responsibility of maintaining international peace and security to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). This task requires a comprehensive engagement with the complex systems driving conflict in the world to understand and respond to threats to international peace and security. The UNSC has over the last 30 years gradually adopted a non-traditional security approach by incorporating economic, social, humanitarian and ecological instability as threats to international peace and security.
Space, nature and hierarchy: the ecosystemic politics of the Caspian Sea
Antropocen, menneskets tidsalder, har ført til skjerpet innsats for forvaltningen av verdens økosystemer. Disse økosystemene forholder seg ikke til landegrenser, og hundrevis av økosystemer krysser mer enn tre land og krever dermed komplekst internasjonalt samarbeid. Denne artikkelen undersøker de politiske og sosiale konsekvensene av den økende, men lite studerte, utviklingen mot grenseoverskridende økosystemsamarbeid. Ved å koble hierarkistudier i internasjonale relasjoner (IR) og politisk geografi, viser artikkelen hvordan diskursen rundt økosystemer kan binde sammen uvanlige samarbeidspartnere i områder som ellers er politisk krevende. Forfatterne hevder at «økosystemets politikk» kan skape brede hierarkier som går på tvers av både westfalske, postkoloniale og ulikhetsprinsipper som har hittil vært gjenstand for den ‘nye’ hierarkiforskningen i IR. Forfatterne illustrerer argumentasjonen ved å analysere hvordan miljøsamarbeidet rundt Det kaspiske hav har skapt et bredt hierarki som definerer og markerer regionens grenser, er blitt symbolsk for kaspisk naboskap og brukt som mal for fremtidig samarbeid i regionen. Dersom økosystemets politikk kan skape ny forståelse av rom i et ellers omstridt område som Det kaspiske hav, burde ytterligere forskning undersøke de hierarkiske konsekvensene også andre steder.
Stakeholder Networks in International Development Projects in the Amazon rainforest
The governance of environmental issues has become a central challenge in world politics. These issues are often complex, thus requiring flows of knowledge and resource from multiple actors across multiple levels. International development cooperation is a channel for these varied sets of actors to join their efforts in concrete projects and policies, allowing for global engagement with local envi- ronmental challenges. It thus can anchor policy networks capable of structuring polycentric modes governance. Yet, empirical research has shown that policy networks are sites of political disputes, (re)producing power rela- tions and affecting the capacity of different social groups to influence relevant outcomes. In this brief, we examine such dynamics in the network of stakeholders involved in development, execution or governance of internationally funded projects in the Amazon.