Reidar Visser
E-mail:
rvSPAMFILTER@nupi.no
Direct:
(+47)22 99 40 16
Post address:
Pb 8159 Dep, 0033 Oslo
Visiting address:
C.J. Hambros plass 2 D
News
[2009-06-15]
Speech at the conference "15 years after Oslo: What now for the Middle East?" [link]
Current research
Reidar Visser specialises in the history of the state system of the modern Middle East, regionalist movements, the politics of city states, and historiography in politics. His work on the question of decentralisation and federalism in southern Iraq is available from the website historie.org.
Engaged in the research project Iraq's future on Iraqi terms.
Formal education
[2003]
D. Phil., University of Oxford
[1995]
Cand. polit., University of Bergen
Professional experience
[1996]
Research Fellow, NUPI
Publications
Articles (in books and journals)
- Visser, Reidar (2009). Europeisk Irak-politikk, i Rieker, Pernille og Walter Emanuel Carlsnæs [red.] Nye utfordringer for europeisk sikkerhetspolitikk. Aktører, instrumenter og operasjoner . Oslo, Universitetsforlaget.p. 207-216. Kapittelet drøfter europeisk Irak-politikk på ett utvalgt område: Europas overordnede syn på Irak som en politisk enhet og dens levedyktighet.
- Visser, Reidar (2008). Taming the Hegemonic Power: SCIRI and the Evolution of US Policy in Iraq, International Journal of Contemporary Iraqi Studies vol. 2, no. 1 . Bristol, Intellect.p. 31-51. This article discusses the historical development of the United States' special relationship with the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), one of the Shi'ite religious parties of Iraq.
- Visser, Reidar (2008). Historical Myths of a Divided Iraq, in Survival, vol. 50, no. 2 . Abingdon,Routledge Journals.p. 95-106. This article challenges the conventional view that Iraq is an "artificial" creation and points out the substantial pre-modern roots of a centralised, multi-ethnic Iraqi state with Baghdad as its capital.
- Visser, Reidar (2008). The Western Imposition of Sectarianism on Iraqi Politics, in Arab Studies Journal vol. 16 no. 1 . Washington DC,Georgetown University.p. 83-99.
- Visser, Reidar (2007). Ethnicity, Federalism and the Idea of Sectarian Citizenship in Iraq, in International Review of the Red Cross, vol. 89, nr. 868 . Cambridge,Cambridge University Press.p. 809-822. The article discusses the “ethnic paradigm” that currently prevails in analyses of Iraqi history and politics.
- Visser, Reidar (2007). The Surge, the Shiites and Nation Building in Iraq, Terrorism Monitor volume 5, Issue 17 . Washington D.C.,The Jamestown Foundation.
- Visser, Reidar (2007). Basra, the Reluctant Seat of Shiastan, Middle East Report, no. 242. http://www.merip.org/mer/mer242/visser.html . On Basra resistance to the scheme for a single Shiite federal entity.
- Visser, Reidar (2007). Other People's Maps, The Wilson Quarterly, Winter 2007. http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index...ion=wg.essay&seeay_id=215618 . On the parallels between US partition plans for post-war Iraq and the Sykes-Picot Agreement of World War I.
- Visser, Reidar (2006). Sentralisme i Irak: en overlevning fra mandatperioden?, Babylon: Journal on the Middle East and North Africa, vol. 4, no. 1 English text available at: http://www.historiae.org/Maliki.asp . p. 28-35.
- Visser, Reidar (2006). Osmanli eyalet sinirlari, Sii federalizmi ve Iraktaki enerji anlasmazligi, Stratejik Analiz English text available at: http://www.historiae.org/vilayet.asp Turkish text available at: http://www.historiae.org/documents/Ottoman.pdf . p. 83-90.
- Visser, Reidar (2004). Shi'i Perspectives on a Federal Iraq: Territory, Community and Ideology in Conceptions of a New Polity, In Daniel Heradstveit and Helge Hveem (eds.) Oil in the Gulf: Obstacles to Democracy and Development. . Aldershot,Ashgate.p. 125-166. A survey of diversity of opinion among Shiites on the subject of federalism in Iraq.
Books and reports
- Thune, Henrik , Reidar Visser, Hassan al-Bazzaz, Dhiaa al-Bakkaa et al (2009). More than «Shiites» and «Sunnis» How a Post-Sectarian Strategy Can Change the Logic and Facilitate Sustainable Political Reform in Iraq. Oslo, NUPI. 32 pages. A Report by Iraqi Academics and Professionals, Prepared in Cooperation with the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI).
- Visser, Reidar , Gareth Stansfield [ed.] (2007). An Iraq of Its Regions: Cornerstones of a Federal Democracy?. New York, Columbia/Hurst. 288 pages. This work offers a comprehensive overview of regionalism as a political force in contemporary Iraq.
- Visser, Reidar (2005). Basra, the Failed Gulf State . Berlin, LIT Verlag. 256 pages. Separatism and Nationalism in Southern Iraq
Working Papers
- Visser, Reidar (2008). The Sadrists of Basra and the Far South of Iraq. The Most Unpredictable Political Force in the Gulf’s Oil-Belt Region?. NUPI Working Paper: 734. 21 pages. This paper analyses internal tensions within the Sadr movement in Iraq and discusses how US policy might affect these relationships in the future.
- Visser, Reidar (2007). Basra Crude: The Great Game of Iraq’s “Southern” Oil. NUPI Working Paper: 723. 15 pages. This paper describes the political tension surrounding Iraq's oil resources, more than half of which is concentrated in a small area near the city of Basra.
- Visser, Reidar (2006). Sistani, the United States and Politics in Iraq: From Quietism to Machiavellianism?. NUPI Working Paper: 700. 37 pages. Discusses how to interpret Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani's political attitudes and designs, with reference to the future of Iraq.
- Visser, Reidar (2005). Shi'i Separatism in Iraq.: Internet Reverie or Real Constitutional Challenge?. NUPI Working Paper: 686. 18 pages. Discusses Shi'i mobilisation in Iraq, with a particular focus on what role electronic communication plays in this.
Popular publishing
- Visser, Reidar (2010). Blacklisted in Baghdad. Can Washington Fix Iraq’s Election Crisis? . Foreign Affairs, 27. January
- Visser, Reidar (2009). Identity carved. The National, 10. September
- Visser, Reidar (2008). Eurosentrisk Bagdad-beretning. bokanmeldelse, Prosa, nr. 6, s. 31-34., 31. December
- Visser, Reidar (2007). Statoil på ville veier i Irak. Dagbladet, 14. June