NUPI Research Online (Norwegian Institute of International Affairs)
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Cheering and Jeering on the Escalator to Hell: One Year of UK Media Coverage on the War in Ukraine
Get PDFWhile there is a common awareness of wartime media censorship in both Ukraine and Russia, there has been less research on Western media coverage and expert analysis of the war in Ukraine. This essay considers the extent to which a skewed and partisan version of the war’s evolution has been presented in UK media. Five stages are identi- fied in the emergence and evolution of a British meta-narrative on the war in Ukraine, replete with ‘cheering’ and ‘jeering’, that works against a realistic understanding of the war’s nature and reasonable consideration of possible future scenarios. It is argued this coverage has sidestepped critical questions of the war’s stage-by-stage escalation and has essentially avoided serious debate of the risks, costs and benefits of such a course.Cheering and Jeering on the Escalator to Hell: One Year of UK Media Coverage on the War in UkrainepublishedVersio
Services in the India-EU free trade agreement
Get PDFThis paper analyses the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between EU and India focusing on services trade. Based on the text published by the European Union, it uses the OECD STRI simulator to calculate the preference margins implied by the agreement and next predicts the impact on services trade flows using a general equilibrium structural gravity analysis. I find that the preference margin on the Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI) for Indian exports to the EU is between four and eight basis points depending on the sector, while for EU’s exports to India the preference margin is between 10 and 35 basis points. The predicted effect is more than a doubling of EU services exports to India, while India’s services exports to the EU would increase by about 50%. EU’s trade with the rest of the world would not change much, while India’s exports to the rest of the world would contract by about 3%. Real services output would not change much in the EU or India. Lifting trade restrictions in the telecommunications sector is the most important policy area for facilitating services trade. About half of the predicted export expansion is driven by reforms to domestic regulation.Services in the India-EU free trade agreementpublishedVersio
Norway: Between engagement and caution
No full textThe chapter covers Norway’s political maneuvering of its relations to China, and is part of a larger report in which many European countries and the EU’s China-policies are mapped. Norway seeks to combine engagement and caution in its approach to China, seeking collaboration on issues of mutual interest, while also protecting national security interests and the status of liberal norms internationally. Lacking an updated, comprehensive China strategy, Norwegian authorities have taken several steps to strengthen the coordination around China-related issues, It is, however, difficult to assess the effects of this or get a full picture of what Norway is aiming to achieve in its relations to China.Norway: Between engagement and cautionpublishedVersio
Critical Materials for Development: A New Trajectory for Norwegian Foreign Aid Policy
Get PDFThe war in Ukraine has accelerated the global shift to renewable energy. As a result, global mineral and metal sup- ply chains have also started changing in response to rising demand for materials for clean energy technologies. The scale of coming changes in critical material markets is unprecedented. By 2040, the energy transition will raise demand by more than 1,000% for lithium, cobalt, copper and nickel needed for the production of solar pan- els, wind turbines and batteries. Demand for germanium will rise by as much as 8,600%. Many of these minerals are located in poor and politically unstable developing countries in Africa and Asia, many of which are Norad partner countries. Most of these countries require targeted international aid to improve their extractive industries for the mining, production and supply of critical materials. Similar to the Norwegian Government’s Oil for Development (OfD) programme launched in 2005, Norad could devise a new programme, ‘Critical Materials for Development’, where the assistance provided to partner countries could be tailor-made to promote sustainable mining and improve local economic development in the short and long run. Moreover, Norwegian development agencies including Norad could consider joining existing global initiatives on critical materials and sustainable mining and provide financial and technical support in the form of co-finance and capacity-building schemes.Critical Materials for Development: A New Trajectory for Norwegian Foreign Aid PolicypublishedVersio
Germany’s Zeitenwende in foreign and security policy: Domestic developments and alliance dynamics after one year
Get PDFDays after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, German Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced a Zeitenwende, a historical turning point to which Germany would respond by reforming its foreign and security policies. In a speech in the Federal Parliament (Bundestag) on 27 February 2022, Chancellor Scholz listed five points for the reform agenda: supporting Ukraine (also militarily), sanctioning Russia, increased German contribution to NATO’s eastern flank, investment in more capable armed forces, and decoupling from Russian energy. The third point included a €100 billion special investment fund, so-called Sondervermögen, that would be used to boost Germany’s military capabilities and especially alleviate the most urgent material shortcomings of the armed forces. Given that Germany had been considered a laggard in European defence due to its restrictive approach on military capability – partly because of the historical legacy of guilt for World War II and partly a condition of Germany’s reunification after the Cold War – the announcement of a turning point raised expectations in Euro-Atlantic defence circles.Germany’s Zeitenwende in foreign and security policy: Domestic developments and alliance dynamics after one yearpublishedVersio
Russian nuclear energy diplomacy and its implications for energy security in the context of the war in Ukraine
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How Not to Do UN Peacekeeping Avoid the Stabilization Dilemma with Principled and Adaptive Mandating and Leadership
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Ad hoc coalitions in global governance: short-notice, task- and time-specific cooperation
Get PDFAd hoc coalitions (AHCs) are an indispensable but scantly conceptualized part of global governance. In recent years, several typologies and classifications of global governance arrangements have been provided, mostly differentiating them based on their organizational design features of degree of formality and membership composition. These do not capture AHCs and the role they play in global governance. In this article, we not only provide a conceptualization of AHCs, but also propose ways in which AHCs fit within the broader global governance architecture. We argue that what sets AHCs apart is not so much their (in)formality or membership, but rather their short-notice creation, their task-specific purpose and their temporarily circumscribed existence. We therefore define AHCs as autonomous arrangements with a task-specific mandate established at short notice for a limited time frame. We then develop a research agenda on the nature and future of AHCs, including their short- and long-term relationship with other multilateral arrangements in the global governance architecture. This is important, as we do yet not know how AHCs complement, compete and impact on international organizations and international crisis response.Ad hoc coalitions in global governance: short-notice, task- and time-specific cooperationpublishedVersio