NUPI Research Online (Norwegian Institute of International Affairs)
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A Postliberal Global Order? Challenge(r)s to the Liberal West
Full text linkWhat unites and divides critics of liberal international politics, from the populist radical right to non-Western powers? Over the past decade, there has been a dramatic upsurge in discussions within academia, media, and policy circles concerning a crisis afflicting a “post-1945 Liberal International Order”, in Western political parlance now usually dubbed “the Rules-Based Order”. Within liberal discourse the threat to this international order is presented as chiefly illiberal, non-Western, and thus external. This report questions some of the premises of those accounts, arguing that what actors such as the European populist radical right and non-Western powers like China are united in challenging is predominantly the expansive liberal internationalism of the post-Cold War era, not the post-1945 architecture as such. This critique also runs directly through the liberal West. At the same time, the liberal West has lost a significant degree of geopolitical and moral clout: the dynamic is also a conflict over who has the right – and credibility – to speak on behalf of global values and the “international community”. In parallel, we see increased calls for greater non-Western representation in global politics – and sustained challenges to the international legal order from both Western and non-Western states. Russia and China have become prominent and uniting voices in challenging Western hegemony, and liberal democracy as an ideal. What does all this entail for the future of global politics? The report first unpacks what intensified ideological contestation in global politics entails and discusses the problem with seeing these specific dynamics through the lens of a West/non-West, democracies/autocracies binary, or through the concepts of a post-1945 Liberal International or Rules-Based Order. What are the main themes uniting an otherwise diverse crowd in a mutual critique of Western international liberalism? What is the liberal West’s own role in precipitating this crisis? In its second part, the report zooms in on the international visions of the European and US populist radical right and “New Right”, discussing what Donald Trump’s second presidency means for the mainstreaming of the Far Right, and the pushback against the dominant international liberalism of the 1990s. Who are the central actors, and what do they want for global politics? The report concludes with a discussion of the implications of this broad backlash for the liberal West.A Postliberal Global Order? Challenge(r)s to the Liberal WestpublishedVersio
Stuxnet, revisited (again): Producing the strategic relevance of cyber operations
Full text linkMore than a decade after Stuxnet hit the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in Iran, it is still discussed as the most vivid example of a cyber operation causing kinetic damage to infrastructure with implications for national security. This article shows that Stuxnet is due a revisit by arguing that the operation represents a paradigmatic shift in perceptions that continue to produce the meaning of ‘strategic relevance’ for cyber operations. The exceptional story of Operation Olympic Games and the Stuxnet malware has underpinned the way contemporary understandings of the (potential) role of cyber operations in international conflict prevail. Through a critical review of academic and policy discourse largely driven by orthodox perspectives on strategic security, the article demonstrates how these perspectives continue to influence American and Western policy objectives based on the imagined utility of cyber operations as an instrument of power. When exploring the strategic relevance of cyber operations as historically and politically produced, tied up in discursive and material interactions, it allows for scholars across the spectrum of security studies to critically consider the emergence of ‘new’ security threats and strategic capabilities.Stuxnet, revisited (again): Producing the strategic relevance of cyber operationsStuxnet, revisited (again): Producing the strategic relevance of cyber operationspublishedVersionpublishedVersio
Memo to the Arctic Security Roundtable: The geopolitics of Arctic economic activities
Full text linkThis brief memo supported discussions at the MSC Arctic Security Roundtable 2025 of the Munich Security Council, which has a particular focus on economic drivers and how they impact security and governance in the region. The memo directs attention to key vectors, both long-term and more recent, that are at the intersection of economy, security and environment across national borders in the Arctic.Memo to the Arctic Security Roundtable: The geopolitics of Arctic economic activitiespublishedVersio
Care, Control and Calories: A Genealogy of Measuring International Undernutrition
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Peace and security ad hoc coalitions: engagement of the Global South and the Global North
Full text linkThe Global South has become progressively involved in the governance of peace and security within the United Nations (UN) and regional organisations. At the same time, these established international organisations (IOs) have faced challenges in addressing conflicts swiftly. States have increasingly relied on more informal arrangements in an increasingly denser global governance landscape. In the peace and security area, more states are using ad hoc coalitions (AHCs) as an alternative to responding to crises collectively and quickly. While much is known about the Global South’s engagement in formal peace and security mechanisms, knowledge about their involvement in the increasingly relevant informal arrangements is still scarce. This article systematically compares the patterns of engagement of the Global North and Global South in AHCs. Theoretically, it builds on the literature on UN peace operations and military interventions to propose a multilevel framework for this comparison. Empirically, it draws on an novel dataset to analyse similarities and differences among the two groups of states when contributing to AHCs in terms of their own attributes, the characteristics of the states and crises to which they contribute, and their relations with these target countries.Peace and security ad hoc coalitions: engagement of the Global South and the Global NorthpublishedVersio
The EU should get serious about maritime security in the Middle East and the Gulf
Full text linkTo achieve its global maritime ambitions, the EU must strengthen its presence in the Middle East and the Gulf. The current geopolitical climate offers a chance to become a key maritime security provider and a reliable partner to actors in the region. Securing shipping lanes from the Mediterranean to the Gulf is crucial for the EU’s economy, its energy supply, and its geopolitical influence. This policy note argues that the EU should (1) overcome fragmentation in its maritime operations in the region; and (2) emphasize the distinct ‘European approach’ to maritime security.The EU should get serious about maritime security in the Middle East and the GulfpublishedVersio
Malian women's experiences with violent extremism. What is known and how is it known?
Full text linkThis chapter analyses knowledge production about Malian women’s experiences in the context of the global agenda on Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (P/CVE). Research increasingly asserts that global discourse about women’s roles in preventing violent extremism tends to represent women in highly gender-stereotypical and limited ways, and women’s lived experiences with violent extremism are often missing from these accounts. The chapter suggests that these limitations are related to whose voices are heard, and how knowledge is produced, and circulated. Starting from an understanding of the omissions and silences in the global episteme as forms of epistemic violence, the chapter discusses the ways in which knowledge about Malian women’s experiences challenges, expands and feeds into the P/CVE episteme (or not). The analysis is based on a combination of sources, including reports and published accounts, reports from international and Malian human rights NGOs and statements by Malian activists to the UN Security Council.Malian women's experiences with violent extremism. What is known and how is it known?publishedVersio
Integrating ad hoc Coalitions in International Conflict Management
No full textInternational conflict management is undergoing profound transformation.3 Since 2014, traditional UN peace operations have declined, while the demand for swift crisis responses has increased dramatically. With the UN, AU, and EU often slow to act, ad hoc coalitions—flexible, temporary arrangements among like-minded states—have gained traction as a tool for rapid deployment in conflict zones. This shift to what we call conflict management à la carte reflects both opportunities and risks. While ad hoc coalitions offer speed and flexibility, they also raise concerns about legitimacy, accountability, and the erosion of institutional memory. Integrating these coalitions with established UN and regional mechanisms is critical for maintaining effective and legitimate conflict management.Integrating ad hoc Coalitions in International Conflict ManagementpublishedVersio
The World According to Military Targeting
Full text linkA revealing account of the prevalence—and alarming ubiquity—of military targeting, and how it has become a self-propelling worldview driven by dominance, violence, and power. The World According to Military Targeting engages directly with our grave world condition, asking how we ended up in a “closed world” made for military targeting by military targeting. In this book, Erik Reichborn-Kjennerud explores how the operational logics and seductive forces of targeting produce a world in which the only ways to think about politics and security is through military supremacy, endless war, and global domination, with serious implications for social and political life. Offering a critical investigation of military targeting through the lenses of its historical formation, current operations, and future implications, the author presents an innovative investigation into targeting’s radical knowledge production, how it abstracts and brings into being new worlds, and the violence and destructive effects it generates. Through an interdisciplinary lens, the book draws attention to military doctrine and methodologies; statistical thought and practice; the mathematical and computational techniques of data production, processing, and modeling; and the so-called machine-learning algorithms and AI of today. The resulting narrative provides novel insights into how imagining the world, producing the world, and operationalizing the world are always wrapped up in each other and profoundly embedded in sociotechnical systems.The World According to Military TargetingpublishedVersio