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1. Brothers in Arms and Faith? The Emerging US-Central and Eastern Europe ‘Special Relationship’

Author:
Vibeke Schou Tjalve and Minda Holm
Publication Date:
01-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
In this policy note, we explore the nature, strength and tensions of the contemporary US-Central Eastern Europe relationship. We describe the expanding US-CEE ‘brotherhood in arms’: growing trade relations, intensified military cooperation, and rekindled diplomatic ties. Further, we unpack the striking and largely ignored dimensions of the US-CEE ‘brotherhood in faith’: the many ways in which the United States and Central and Eastern Europe are tied together by overlapping ideologies of national conservatism and a particular version of Christian ‘family values’. This involves addressing the complexities of an increasingly influential and ambitious Visegrád Group, whose key players – Poland and Hungary – may be brothers, but are by no means twins. It also means raising some broader, burning discussions about the future of NATO and the meaning of ‘Europe’. Universalist, multicultural and postnational? Or conservative, Christian and sovereigntist?
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, NATO, Military Affairs, and Trade
Political Geography:
Eastern Europe, North America, Central Europe, and United States of America

2. Measuring Russia’s attention to Europe and the world

Author:
Kristian Lundby Gjerde
Publication Date:
12-2020
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
Based on a mapping of mentions of country names in more than 30,000 Russian official speeches, press conferences, meeting transcripts, and official statements, this brief provides insights into changes to Russia’s engagement with the world during the 21st century. Without disentangling the subtleties of relations – such as their security, economic, or cultural dimensions and their benign or adversarial features – this approach allows the brief to sketch answers to questions that would otherwise be left to guesswork.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, Economics, and Culture
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Eurasia

3. How the New Cold War travelled North (Part II) Interaction between Norway and Russia

Author:
Julie Wilhelmsen and Kristian Lundby Gjerde
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
This policy brief examines changing Russian and Norwegian approaches to each other in the period 2012–2016, and discusses how the “New Cold War” spread to the North. This is an intriguing question, since both parties had initially stated that, despite the overall worsening of Russia–West relations following the crises in Ukraine, the North should be protected as a space for peaceful interaction. To address this question, watching and tracking the changing patterns of Russian exercises and military modernization is not enough; understanding the rise in tensions requires studying the effects of the interactions underway between the parties in this region. Three interaction effects need to be taken into consideration in explaining why the tense relations following the conflict in Ukraine spread to the low-tension Northern theatre. In this, we stress the interactive dynamics that ensues when two parties start to view each other as threats, interpreting new moves by the other as expressions of hostile intent. Further, we explain the observed New Cold War “contamination” with reference to domestic policy agendas and practices of decision-making. On both the Norwegian and the Russian sides, the new military posturing in the North, now interpreted as part of a growing conflict, has emerged partly as a side-effect of implementing what actually were longstanding national goals.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, Cold War, and Strategic Competition
Political Geography:
Russia, Norway, and Arctic

4. The reverse home market effect in exports: A cross-country study of the extensive margin of exports

Author:
Medin Hege
Publication Date:
01-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
This paper presents a simple new trade theory model with results that contradict those from standard model. A home market effect in domestic sales of manufactured goods is found to co-exist with a reversed home market effect in exports of manufactured goods. In consequence, for a small country the number of manufacturing firms that sell in the domestic market is lower than proportional whereas the number of exporters is higher than proportional to country size. The proportion of firms that export, decreases with relative size of the home market. Empirical support for the latter prediction is found in a cross-sectional dataset on firm level exports for 116 countries.
Topic:
International Relations, Economics, International Political Economy, and International Trade and Finance

5. Effects of the EU Enlargement on Income Convergence in the Eastern Border Regions

Author:
Fredrik Wilhelmsson
Publication Date:
06-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
This paper analyses the effect of the EU enlargement process on income convergence among regions in the EU and in the Eastern neighbourhood of the EU. The data used is NUTS II regions in the EU and Oblasts' of Russia over the period 1996-2004. The estimation techniques used take into account both regional and spatial heterogeneity. The main findings are that the regional income differences are reduced within EU15. The income convergence within the EU is mainly driven by reductions in the differences across countries rather than by a reduction in regional differences within countries. When differences in initial conditions in the regions are controlled for by fixed regional effects there are strong evidences of convergence among regions in all studied country groups.
Topic:
International Relations and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Europe

6. Unfolding the international at late modernity: international society and the humanitarian space.

Author:
Paulo Esteves
Publication Date:
11-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
The paper discusses the emergence of the International as a regime of power at the end of the eighteenth century and the transformations this regime has been facing since the end of cold war. Two main questions were proposed to the paper. First, how these transformations can be understood and re-described. With this question, I do not want to establish a debate among different theoretical orientations, but to make an experiment that departing from a theoretical proposition, try to understand how a specific regime of power – in this case, the international – arise and transform itself. The second question is related to the very nature of these transformations: What has been changing in the last two decades and how these changes have been processed in terms of strategies and techniques of power.
Topic:
International Relations, Imperialism, Political Theory, and Power Politics

7. European Integration and Domestic Regions: A Numerical Simulation Analysis

Author:
Arne Melchior
Publication Date:
12-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
Does European economic integration create more inequality between domestic regions, or is the opposite true? While former research has asked for a general answer to this question, we argue that such a general answer does not exist and that the outcome depends on the liberalisation scenario. In order to examine this, we need models with higher dimensionality where the question is where and not whether there will be spatial agglomeration. For this purpose, the paper develops a numerical simulation model with nine countries and 90 regions in order to examine the impact of European and international integration on the regions. Eastward extension of European integration is beneficial for old as well as new members, but within countries the impact varies along the east-west axis. Reduction in distance-related trade costs is particularly good for the European peripheries. Each liberalisation scenario has a distinct impact on the spatial income distribution, and there is no general rule telling that integration causes more or less agglomeration.
Topic:
International Relations, International Trade and Finance, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Europe

8. 'Flipping the COIN' Unity of Effort and Special Operations Forces

Author:
Boye Lillerud
Publication Date:
12-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
This paper argues that unconventional methods and special operations should not be limited to military Special Operations Forces (SOF). It examines a potential role for SOF in a Counter Insurgency (COIN), with specific reference to Unity of Effort. It postulates that Special Forces are the sharpest instruments in the military toolbox available to policymakers, yet the great tactical success of these forces has not necessarily been translated into strategic success.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, War, and Weapons of Mass Destruction

9. How We Talk about the "War on Terrorism"

Author:
Daniel Heradstveit, G. Matthew Bonham, Michiko Nakano, and Victor M.Sergeev
Publication Date:
01-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
This paper focuses on how leaders in Western countries talk about the “war on terrorism.” The paper discusses the difficulties of defining “terrorism,” because, unlike Marxism or capitalism, “terrorism” is not an ideology. Instead the term may be used to designate actions that are used by members of non-governmental organizations against civilian targets. In the case of the “war on terrorism,” the signifier, “terrorism,” is used widely. However, the signified, the perpetrators and what they do, are quite different. Because the designation of the signified depends upon the speaker, the concept of terrorism seems to be subjective and fluid. The signified switches radically both by context and over time, while the only aspect that is stable is the signifier, “terrorism.” The paper goes on to analyze the “war on terrorism” as an ontological metaphor. The paper concludes by arguing that although figures of speech contribute to the cognitive dimension of meaning by helping us to recognize the equivalence to which we are committed and suggesting new equivalences, metaphors like the “war on terrorism” raise problems and do little to increase our understanding. Considering different cultural codes and world views, this type of metaphor is highly counterproductive for communication on the global level.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, International Relations, International Cooperation, and Terrorism

10. Multidimensional and Integrated Peace Operations

Author:
Niels Nagelhus Schia and Ståle Ulriksen
Publication Date:
01-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
Despite major institutional differences regarding mandate, roles and membership, the UN, the EU and NATO all face common security challenges and operate together in several theatres throughout the world. There is now broad consensus that today's security challenges can be most effectively addressed through an integrated approach. This has led to a process where the organisations have acknowledged the necessity and efficiency of cooperation within and with each other. In turn, international and regional organisations such as the UN, NATO, the EU and the AU, all have developed integration approaches. These include models and concepts such as NATO's 'the comprehensive approach' and 'Effects-based Approach to Operations (EBAO)', 'whole-of-government' approaches, and the UN's 'integrated missions' concept.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, International Relations, International Cooperation, and Non-Governmental Organization