NUPI Research Online (Norwegian Institute of International Affairs)
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To engage or not engage? Libyan Salafis and state institutions
Get PDFAt the beginning of the recent escalation of hostilities in Libya in April 2019, one of the key questions posed was what role, if any, quietist Salafis would play. Followers of this trend have grown significantly in influence in recent years, including in the security sphere and government institutions. As a result, their decisions, especially those regarding military engagement, have the potential to have important consequences at the national level. The fact that these “quietist” Salafis in Libya are armed already poses interesting ideological questions. Moreover, the fact that their behaviour during the recent fighting in Tripolii has been somewhat unpredictable indicates that their ideology of obedience to the sitting ruler requires further interrogation. This research brief looks at the way in which the quietist Salafis have evolved to gain such a strong position in Libya, assessing their behaviour in four distinct periods. It contrasts this behaviour with other Salafi trends in Libya, particularly the political Salafism associated with certain former leaders of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG). It argues that Libyan Salafis have adapted and renegotiated ideologies in the changing political context after 2011. More than pure ideology, the way in which they have responded to the constraints and opportunities created by this context has been the key factor in the evolution of the different groups and ultimately their fortunes.To engage or not engage? Libyan Salafis and state institutionspublishedVersio
Introduction: The Duty of Care in International Relations
Get PDFIn this introduction, we lay out the premises, logics and content of the book in more detail. In the next section, we introduce a varied set of current international challenges concerning the relationship between states and citizens. In the third section, we present the historical background for why states are interested in citizens beyond the border, and the different forms this interest has taken over the centuries. This feeds into the discussion about the contemporary understanding and practice of the Duty of Care in the fourth and fifth sections. Here we discuss how the concept allows for new insights into current topics, as well as how it reconfigures and ties together insights from existing literatures. In the sixth and final section, we specify how one can go about studying the Duty of Care, with reference to the ensuing chapters of the book. In this section, we emphasise the chains of care, the power relations inherent in them and the dilemmas and paradoxes that arise from asserting and claiming a Duty of Care.Introduction: The Duty of Care in International RelationsacceptedVersio
Stubbornly Stumbling into Making History: Constructivism and Historical International Relations
Get PDFThe aim of this chapter is threefold; first we try to recollect through the hazy dim of personal history and histories how we eventually became the researchers we are today. Second, we focus on what to us at the time – and, to some extent, still – appeared as contingent, random and haphazard experiences so as to present a more coherent account, an account that we hope may be a useful tool – or at the least a good read – for younger scholars. In the process, we dwell on choices we have made with respect to how we have sought to approach the world; our approach and our sources. Third, we present an attempt at distilling what we see as the lessons that can be drawn from our work and trajectory, what we in hindsight may call “our approach”, in the hope that the reader will find some useful tools for her own research, or that we at the very least help open up a space for this type of reflection. We elaborate on what we perceive to be the benefits of our preferred approach, and how it may be useful for engaging with scholars beyond the confines of Constructivism.Stubbornly Stumbling into Making History: Constructivism and Historical International RelationsacceptedVersio
Renewable Energy Policies of the Central Asian Countries
Get PDFThis data article surveys the government policies in support of renewable energy in the five Central Asian republics: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. It begins by providing general information and key energy statistics for these countries. It then presents comparative data on their regulatory policies, fiscal incentives, and public financing policies. The data were collected from government institutions of the Central Asian states, official national statistics, media reports, and international organizations.Renewable Energy Policies of the Central Asian CountriespublishedVersio
United Nations Peace Operations in a Changing Global Order
Get PDFThis edited volume generates a discussion about UN approaches to peace by studying challenges and opportunities that the organisation is facing in the 21st century. We use some of the findings from the HIPPO report as an inspiration and put both its recommendations and broader UN actions in a wider context. We identify four transformations in the global order and study what implications these have on UN peace operations. The first two transformations emanate from the changing relations between states and reflect the increasingly multipolar character of contemporary global governance. The latter two transformations reflect the changing relations between state and non-state actors. These two broad groups of non-state actors are fundamentally incompatible in their outlook on how and whether the international community should be intervening. That notwithstanding, both groups of non-state actors also force the UN and its member states to rethink the centrality of state-based approaches to security and intervention. In this volume, we identify four transformations in the global order and study their implications on the United Nations peace operations. We ask: - How is the rebalancing of relations between states of the global North and the global South impacting the UN’s decision-making, financing and ability to design operations that go beyond the minimum common denominator; - How is the rise of regional organisations as providers of peace impacting the primacy of UN peace operations and how and whether the UN can remain relevant in this era of partnership and competition; - How have violent extremism and fundamentalist non-state actors changed the nature of international responses and what does this mean for previously advanced longer-term approaches to conflict resolution; - How are demands from non-state actors for greater emphasis on human security impacting the UN’s credibility, and whether, in light of the first three transformations, is the UN even able to prioritise people-centred approaches over state-centred ones. Our core finding is that with the entry of new actors from the global South as important players in the peace arena, we seem to be entering a more pragmatic era of UN peace operations. As contributions to this volume show, there is a greater willingness to innovate and experiment with new forms of conflict management, including more robust interpretations of UN peacekeeping and an increasing reliance on regional actors as providers of peace. At the same time, the UN is facing a classic struggle between the promotion of liberal international norms and realist security concerns. The resolution of this struggle is less clear. The contributors to this volume emphasise the importance of people-centred approaches, conflict sensitivity and longer-term thinking as key aspects to continued relevance of the UN, but their conclusions as to how achievable these are by the UN are not as clear cut.United Nations Peace Operations in a Changing Global OrderpublishedVersio
Stubbornly Stumbling into Making History: Constructivism and Historical International Relations
Get PDFThe aim of this chapter is threefold; first we try to recollect through the hazy dim of personal history and histories how we eventually became the researchers we are today. Second, we focus on what to us at the time – and, to some extent, still – appeared as contingent, random and haphazard experiences so as to present a more coherent account, an account that we hope may be a useful tool – or at the least a good read – for younger scholars. In the process, we dwell on choices we have made with respect to how we have sought to approach the world; our approach and our sources. Third, we present an attempt at distilling what we see as the lessons that can be drawn from our work and trajectory, what we in hindsight may call “our approach”, in the hope that the reader will find some useful tools for her own research, or that we at the very least help open up a space for this type of reflection. We elaborate on what we perceive to be the benefits of our preferred approach, and how it may be useful for engaging with scholars beyond the confines of Constructivism.Stubbornly Stumbling into Making History: Constructivism and Historical International RelationsacceptedVersionacceptedVersio
Local Drivers of Violent Extremism in Central Mali
Get PDFThis policy brief examines the processes of violent extremist mobilisation and radicalisation in Mopti, Central Mali. Specifically, it looks at the strategies employed by one of the most salient radical jihadist groups in the region, the Katiba Macina. It seeks to answer the following questions: 1) Given that violent extremist mobilisation has not taken root uniformly across regions in Mali, and because it is often endogenous to local dynamics, how has Mopti as a region become an enabling environment for jihadist actors like the Katiba Macina? 2) How do groups like the Katiba Macina mobilise local support and integrate themselves among communities? 3) Why do individuals join, adhere to or accept the Katiba Macina?Local Drivers of Violent Extremism in Central MalipublishedVersio
The double proximity paradox in peacebuilding: implementation and perception of the EU rule of law mission in Kosovo
Get PDFThis contribution increases the understanding of the EU's role in post-conflict settings by exploring perceptions of EULEX by local rule of law experts. Drawing on critical peacebuilding and the decline of normative power Europe literatures, we develop an analytical framework, underlining the importance of the intention–implementation gap and the implementation–perception gap in understanding how EU missions are perceived. By comparing local expert narratives to those of EULEX judges, prosecutors, and legal officers, we contend that the core problem for the negative perception of the mission results from what we call the double proximity paradox in peacebuilding. The first paradox is one of implementation and transpires when an actor commits substantial resources to address structural problems in a post-conflict territory due to its centrality for its own interests, but fails to uphold its commitment as its immediate interests can only be achieved through agents who contribute to these problems. The second paradox relates to perception and transpires as high commitments raise expectations of structural impact. The visibility of the actor's investment makes any implementation failures more tangible. The actor is therefore, paradoxically, the most open to criticism in a territory where it is doing the most.The double proximity paradox in peacebuilding: implementation and perception of the EU rule of law mission in Kosov
Attitudes to the EEA Agreement After 25 Years: Considerable Support, Little Knowledge
No full textI anledning EØS-avtalens 25-årsjubileum gjennomførte NUPI og Sentio i januar 2019 en opinionsundersøkelse i den norske befolkningen for å kartlegge nordmenns holdninger til EØS-avtalen samt deres kunnskaper og vurderinger i tilknytning til avtalen og mulige alternativer til den. Resultatene fra undersøkelsen viser at det er stor støtte til EØS-avtalen i befolkningen. Samtidig viser den også at kunnskapsnivået om EØS-avtalen er lavt i hele befolkningen, men særlig blant de unge. Videre viser resultatene at dersom EØS-avtalen skulle opphøre, ville Norge neppe kunne forvente noen ny bred konsensus om en alternativ tilknytningsform. I dette bidraget går Svendsen, Sverdrup og Weltzien gjennom resultatene fra opinionsundersøkelsen og diskuterer hva de impliserer for norsk europapolitikk.On the 25th anniversary of the EEA Agreement, NUPI and Sentio conducted a public opinion poll in January 2019 in the Norwegian population to survey Norwegians’ attitudes to the EEA Agreement, as well as their knowledge and assessments of the agreement and possible alternatives to it. The results of the survey show that there is considerable support for the EEA agreement in the population. At the same time, it also shows that the level of knowledge about the EEA Agreement is low in the entire population, but especially among the youngest respondents. Furthermore, the results show that if the EEA Agreement were to cease to exist, Norway could hardly expect any new broad consensus on an alternative form of association. In this contribution, Svendsen, Sverdrup and Weltzien review the results of the opinion poll and discuss the results and what they imply for Norwegian European policy.publishedVersio