NUPI Research Online (Norwegian Institute of International Affairs)
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Make or buy: Offshoring of services functions in manufacturing
Get PDFRobert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies Global Governance ProgrammepublishedVersio
The Emergence of Foreign Policy
Get PDFInternational relations scholarship typically treats foreign policy as a taken-for-granted analytical concept. It assumes either that all historical polities have foreign policies or that foreign policy originates in seventeenth-century Europe with the separation between the “inside” and “outside” of the state. It generally holds that foreign policy differs in essential ways from other kinds of policy, such as carrying with it a special need for secrecy. I argue against this view. The difference between “foreign” and “domestic” policy results from specific political processes; secrecy begat foreign policy. Growing domestic differentiation between state and civil society in the eighteenth century—articulated through a relatively free press operating in a nascent public sphere—enabled the emergence of foreign policy as a practical concept. The concept served to delimit the legitimate sphere of political discourse from the exclusive, executive sphere of king and cabinet. I explore these processes in Britain and France, important cases with different trajectories, one of reform, the other of revolution. Historicizing foreign policy like this serves to denaturalize the separation between different forms of policy, as well as the necessity of secrecy. Doing so cautions against the uncritical application of abstract analytical terms across time and space.The Emergence of Foreign PolicyacceptedVersio
The Civilian Casualty Tracking Analysis and Response Cell in the African Union Mission in Somalia: an emerging best practice for AU peace support operations?
Get PDFThe Civilian Casualty Tracking Analysis and Response Cell (CCTARC) tracks harm to civilians caused by the African Union Mission in Somalia’s (AMISOM) operations including death, injury, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA) and damage to property including livestock. The cell faces three main types of challenges: • Structural: the sectoral composition of AMISOM hinders effective exchange of information. • Operational: there is no fund to pay amends to victims. • Political: in the midst of competing strategic pressures, the CCTARC has not been adequately prioritised by the mission, African Union Commission, Troop Contributing Countries, and donors.publishedVersio
Tangled up in glue: Multilateral crisis responses in Mali
No full textIn January 2012, Mali plunged into a multifaceted crisis, triggered by an extraordinary series of events. A separatist Tuareg rebellion, a military coup d’état, and the collapse of state authority paved the way for the Islamist occupation of Mali’s three most northern regions, Gao, Timbuktu, and Kidal. Consequently, Mali quickly rose on the agenda of regional and global actors, initiating several unilateral and multilateral interventions to stabilize the country. Since then, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Union (AU), the United Nations (UN), France, the United States, the European Union (EU), and regional players through the Joint Force of the G5 Sahel (FC-G5S) have launched stabilization initiatives. Mali thus provides an opportunity to examine the cooperation, coordination, and potential competition involved in contemporary “crisis response.” This chapter examines these international responses, which can be divided into four, partially overlapping, phases: First, the initial reaction to the Tuareg/jihadist rebellion in early 2012 and the coup in Bamako (January-December 2012); second, the French (Operation Serval) and the ECOWAS/AU response to the southern offensive of the jihadists (January 2013-July 2013); third, the aftermath of Serval and the deployment of the UN Multidimensional Mission for Stabilization in Mali (MINUSMA) and other missions/operations (July 2013-present); and fourth and finally, the deployment of the FC-G5S (February 2017-present).Tangled up in glue: Multilateral crisis responses in MaliacceptedVersio
Iver B. Neumann, forsvarsdebatten og fagtradisjoner - kritiker, rabulist og nybrottsmann :
No full textpublishedVersio
State-owned Enterprises and the Trade Wars
Get PDFDo state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and state capitalism create unfair competition in international markets? Empirical evidence surveyed in this brief suggests that from the turn of the century, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) indeed started competing increasingly with private firms, trading across borders and establishing themselves abroad through foreign direct investment. Some SOEs benefited from government-granted advantages unavailable to their private peers. International legal disputes involving SOEs have multiplied, and discussions of new trade and investment policy initiatives aiming to discipline SOEs have emerged. However, opinions differ as to what are the best policy approaches. The OECD Guidelines on SOEs would go a long way towards maintaining an international level playing field, but these are not mandatory and therefore unevenly implemented. WTO law gives countries freedom in managing their SOEs and focuses instead on disciplining government actions which may distort competition in international markets, irrespective of their ownership status. Some recent preferential trading agreements (PTAs) have included new SOE-specific disciplines that may influence future policy developments. On-going concerns about the allegedly unfair trade practices in emerging market economies with large state sectors, most notably China, are likely to strengthen the pressure for a closer scrutiny of SOEs and a development of new national and international disciplines. Improved transparency and disclosure are likely to be a common denominator of these new initiatives.State-owned Enterprises and the Trade WarspublishedVersio
The Political Economy of Policy Vacuums: The European Commission on Demographic Change
Get PDFSupranational organisations can only confront politico-economic issues that are recognised as important. Typically, issues gain recognition either when they provide an external shock to the system, shaking political actors into action, or when they are framed as important in policy networks concerned with developing the appropriate scientific approach. Ideally political and scientific actors align in creating pressures to recognise the issue as salient and to mobilise organisational responses. Issues differ in their capacity to be driven by both political and scientific pressures, creating crisis management, technocratic, and reform agenda outcomes. Here we explore a further variation, where pressures around an issue are insufficient, creating a policy vacuum. We examine one such policy vacuum in Europe: demographic change. This issue belongs to no particular Directorate-General in the European Commission, but is subject to policy frames from DG EMPL and DG ECFIN. Without sufficient political and scientific pressures, no particular policy position is occupied and advocated despite recognition of the issue’s importance. We discuss the role of policy vacuums and the need for their identification in political economy research.The Political Economy of Policy Vacuums: The European Commission on Demographic ChangesubmittedVersio