Month: May 2021

On Words and World-Making:  Law professors, power and responsibility

On 6 May 2021, something extraordinary happened in Norwegian academia: in an op-ed in the newspaper Stavanger Aftenblad, Ole Gjems-Onstad, a law professor at BI Norwegian Business School (BI), criticized the Labour Party and 22 July survivors for a lack of self-criticism. The op-ed was met with disbelief, horror and condemnation by survivors, newspaper editors,… Read more »

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Notes From a Small Neigboring Island – Lessons from the reactions to the crisis

In a series of brief blog posts, researchers of the PRIO Middle East Centre offer their reflections on the unfolding Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Beyond its immediate effects and first reading, the recent crisis in the Middle East has accentuated some emerging issues and lead to reflections of wider applicability.

The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Short notes on military technologies

In a series of brief blog posts, researchers of the PRIO Middle East Centre offer their reflections on the unfolding Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. The armed conflict unfolding over the last few days, opposing Israel to the Palestinians, represented some novelties when compared to previous outbreaks.

The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: The Arab Street and Erdoğan

In a series of brief blog posts, researchers of the PRIO Middle East Centre offer their reflections on the unfolding Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. The conflict in Gaza has once again highlighted the tense relationship between Turkey and the United States with President Erdoğan using incendiary language in his criticism of Israel and its strongest ally, the… Read more »

The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: The Unity Intifada – A Manifesto for Dignity and Hope

In a series of brief blog posts, researchers of the PRIO Middle East Centre offer their reflections on the unfolding Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. As in the waves of anger that erupted in October 2015 and July 2017, the current popular action in Jerusalem represents resistance politics in its most vibrant form. These contentious collective actions in Jerusalem sparked and… Read more »

The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Addressing the Structures

In a series of brief blog posts, researchers of the PRIO Middle East Centre offer their reflections on the unfolding Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. The two-way rocket salvos into and from Gaza feels like a tedious repetition of tragedies past. The world has seen this before, and tragically we will probably see it again in the not… Read more »

The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Geopolitics of the non-ceasefire

In a series of brief blog posts, researchers of the PRIO Middle East Centre offer their reflections on the unfolding Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. The proposition for cessation of violence in the suddenly exploded Israeli-Palestinian conflict appears so natural and necessary that the lack of any progress in its advancement after ten days of rocket salvoes and… Read more »

Mind the Gap: Policy, Righting wrongs and circumventing oil curses in Uganda’s Albertine region

Uganda has signed a pipeline deal with Tanzania and Total to transport crude oil from Uganda’s Albertine region to Tanzania’s Tanga port for refining, but the secrecy that surrounds this $3.5 billion project attracts questions around its viable benefit to the citizenry. For Uganda, this oil presents huge opportunities and significant risks. At all London… Read more »

The Pitfalls of Peacemaking

The revelations in the Norwegian financial newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) of Terje Rød-Larsen’s links to Jeffrey Epstein are a reminder that personal goals, dreams and ambitions can become entwined in professional choices in unfortunate ways – including for well intentioned foreign policy actors. The International Peace Institute in New York, the think tank Terje Rød-Larsen… Read more »

Improving Resource Governance and Building Sustainable Peace

In a recently published piece in World Development, Florian Krampe, Farah Hegazi and Stacy D VanDeveer explore the potentially dramatic benefits of improved environmental and resource governance for post-war peacebuilding. They outline three causal mechanisms – or pathways – for environmental peacebuilding: (a) the contact hypothesis, (b) diffusion of transnational norms, and (c) state service… Read more »