The activities of NUPI’s Department of Russian and Eurasian Studies can be divided into four core areas:
- Russian security and foreign policy – including Russian hegemonic ambitions in the post-Soviet area, together with Russia’s relation to EU and NATO. Studies of bilateral relations between Russia and Norway have been important as well.
- Within the field of regime studies, the focus has been on various aspects of the Russian political system, policy models, and institutional development and institution building.
- The third focal area involves research on the development of centre–periphery relations within the Russian Federation. Today this is an important field of study: in addition to the obvious need for expertise on conflict areas like Chechnya, for the first time the regions, and thereby centre–periphery relations, have emerged as a power factor in the Russian context.
- The Department of Russian an Eurasian Studies has also focused on the Russian Nordic Areas in general and the Norwegian neighbouring territory in particular, as well as on various aid-related projects. Research in the department includes all the post-Soviet areas except the Baltic countries.
Current research [More]
Coming into the Cold: Asia’s Arctic interests
This project will examine the increasing Arctic interests of four key Asian states (China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea) and illustrate how Arctic states (US, Norway, Russia) are meeting this growing interest. The aim is to analyze the consequences the increased involvement of Asian states may have for Arctic governance and geopolitics. More
Dialogue and learning across the North Caucasian/Russian divide
The project creates an arena for dialogue and cooperation between MA and PhD students from the Northern Caucasus and Russia. More
Afghanistan’s Central Asian neighbours: Spoilers or catalysts of regional stability?
Completed projects [More]
The Shifting Geopolitics of the Black Sea Region: Actors, Drivers and Challenges
The Black Sea Region stands out as a region where realpolitik once more has come to the fore. This project maps drivers that currently affect the shifting geopolitics of the Black Sea region. More
Competence building and research support for the Chechen State University
The project is a cooperation project between the Chechen State University in Grozny and NUPI. More
Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) and implications for post-conflict economic recovery
The project is about disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (so-called DDR processes) and the pursuit of these aims when societies go from war to peace. More
Publications
- Overland, Indra , Jakub M. Godzimirski, Lars Petter Lunden, Daniel Fjærtoft (2013). Rosneft's offshore partnerships: the re-opening of the Russian petroleum frontier?, .Cambridge University Press.p. 140-153.This article analyses and compares the contents and contexts of major cooperation agreements between the Russian and state owned Rosneft and international companies. The goal is to ascertain what the agreements have to tell about access for international companies to Russia's offshore petroleum resources and the influence of competing Russian political actors over the country's petroleum sector. [url]
- Wilson Rowe, Elana
(2013). Arctic hierarchies? Norway, status and the high north,
in Polar Record
.Cambridge University Press.This article focuses on one potential motivation for a state’s behaviour in international affairs, namely status-seeking, in order to shed light on Norway’s Arctic politics and to discuss the role of hierarchies in Arctic politics more generally. [url] - Moen-Larsen, Natalia (2013). Kollektivet og individet, .Oslo,Universitetsforlaget.p. 3-5.Leder i Nordisk Østforum [url]
- Gjerde, Kristian Lundby (2013). Bruken av historie i Putins Russland: Kremls søken etter konsensus 2000–2010, .p. 31-56.I denne artikkelen argumenterer forfatteren for at russiske myndigheter har forsøkt å befeste et nytt narrativ for sovjetisk historie, og at dette har blitt gjort for å skape konsensus i befolkningen og konsolidere samfunnet etter 1990. Forfatteren finner imidlertid at det nye narrativet er problematisk da det forsøker å forene gjensidig utelukkende verdier. [url]
- Godzimirski, Jakub M.
(2012). Strategie energetyczne Rosji i Norwegii: podobieństwa i różnice (Energy strategies of Russia and Norway: similarities and differences),
Polish Diplomatic Review 66 (4)
.Warszawa,Polish Institute of International Affairs.p. 43-70.The article presents and compares Norwegian and Russian energy strategies. Energy strategy is here understood as practical implementation of national energy policies in European and international context. The focus of the article is on differences and similarities in the two countries’ approaches and way they have been coping with recent political and market related challenges to their dominant position on the European energy market. [url] - Godzimirski, Jakub M., Elana Wilson Rowe, Helge Blakkisrud (2012). The Arctic: What does Russia see? What does Russia want?. Oslo, The Finnish Ministry of Defence. 17 pages. This Briefing Paper, written for the Finnish Ministry of Defence, aims to provide a better understanding of Russian policy towards the Arctic. The authors analyze how the Arctic is presented in Russian strategic documents as well as how these documents relate to Russia’s Arctic political practices - how Russian Arctic statements have been translated into political action.
- Flikke, Geir
(2012). Patriotic Left-Centrism: the Zigzags of the CPRF/Патриотический левоцентризм: зигзаги Коммунистической пар- тии Российской Федерации в 1990-х годах,
in Forum for Contemporary East-European History and Culture 2 2012 (Russian language)
.University of Jena. [url] - Vakulchuk, Roman
(2012). Public Administration Reform and Implications for the Petroleum Industry in Kasakhstan,
in Nordisk Østforum 26 (3-4) 2012
.Oslo,Universitetsforlaget.p. 219-244.In this article in the Norwegian language journal Nordisk Østforum, the role of reforms conducted within the system of public administration in Kasakhstan over the past 10 years is assessed, and also the effect the reforms have had on the petroleum industry in the country. [url] - Fjæstad, Kristin
(2012). Demokratiske ideer og udemokratisk praksis: ,
i Nordisk Østforum, vol 26, no 3-4
.Oslo,Universitetsforlaget.p. 263-286.Artikkelen ser på det internasjonale samfunnets innsats for å styrke det kirgisiske parlamentet etter 2010. [url] - Blakkisrud, Helge , Pål Kolstø
(2012). Die Gesellschaft der PMR,
in Klaus Bochmann, Vasile Dumbrava, Dietmar Müller & Victoria Reinhardt (eds.) Die Republik Moldova: Ein Handbuch.
.Leipzig,Leipziger Univärsitetsverlag.p. 571-582.The republic of Moldova is getting more visible in European politics and economy. This book chapter provides an overview over Moldovan civil society actors and the media landscape.The authors compare social life in Transnistria with that of the rest of Moldova. This article examines the politics and social development in the breakaway republic of Transnistria from 1991 until today. [url] - Kjærnet, Heidi
(2012). National oil companies and the state,
in A. Heinrich, and H. Pleines (eds): Challenges of the Caspian Resource Boom: Domestic Elites and Policy-making.
.Palgrave Macmillan.p. 191-204.This chapter surveys the national oil companies of three post-Soviet Caspian states – Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan – with a focus on the management strategies the governments have for their national oil companies. [url] - Overland, Indra , Mikkel Berg-Nordlie (2012). Bridging divides. , Berghahn Books. 162 pages. This book tells the story of what happened to the Russian Sami population in the two decades that followed the end of the Cold War. They attempted a linguistic revival, sought to mend the Cold War scars across Sapmi, and established their own independent ethno-political organizations.
- Wilson Rowe, Elana (2012). A dangerous space? , .Taylor & Francis.This article illustrates how the Arctic is represented as a zone of potential conflict in the media. Rowe argues that these different ‘framings’ of Arctic politics have significance for the kind of politics that can be pursued in the region, and discusses how a certain kind of geopolitical reasoning contributes to seeing the Arctic as a latent space of danger and conflict. [url]
- Moen-Larsen, Natalia
(2012). Symbolske grenser,
i Nordisk Østforum, vol. 26, nr. 2.
.Oslo,Universitetsforlaget.p. 109-111.Leder i Nordisk Østforum, vol. 26, nr. 2 [url] - Wilson Rowe, Elana
(2012). International science, domestic politics,
in Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, volume 30.
.Pion.p. 711-726.This paper seeks to examine how changes in Russian policy makers’ publicly communicated understandings of climate science have been brought about by analyzing the reception of international scientific assessments of climate change in Russian domestic debate. [url] - Eriksen, Stein Sundstøl, Sverre Lodgaard, Arne Melchior, Karl Rich, Elana Wilson Rowe, Ole Jacob Sending (2012). BRICS, Energy and the New World Order . Oslo, NUPI. 39 pages. In this report, NUPI researches examines various aspects of the issue BRICS and global energy.
- Blakkisrud, Helge , Pål Kolstø
(2012). De facto states and democracy: The case of Nagorno-Karabakh,
in Communist and Post-Communist Studies Volume 45, Issues 1–2, March–June 2012
.Elsevier.p. 141–151.De facto states are often dismissed as ‘failing states’. However, in Freedom House rankings of political rights and civil liberties, they sometimes perform better than their parent states – as has been the case with Nagorno-Karabakh. This article examines the development of democracy in Nagorno-Karabakh against a checklist of factors assumed to be relevant: cultural homogeneity, size, existential threats, role of the diaspora, and the consequences of continued non-recognition. [url] - Flikke, Geir
(2012). Eastward Bound? Options and Limitations in the EU's Eastern Dimension,
i (red. Sverre Lodgaard) Studia Diplomatica vol. 65, no. 1, 2012.
.Egmont.p. 79-90.Recent studies have underlined the growing significance of the EU as a foreign policy actor. This article explores the options and limitations inherent in the EU's neighborhood policy. It argues that the EU offers not integration, but approximation, and that the EU faces challenges concerning democracy developments and modernization in its neighborhood. Still, the EU is "eastward bound" as many of these challenges are intertwined with the EU's internal development. [url] - Overland, Indra , Marte Ulvestad
(2012). Natural Gas and CO2 price variation: Impact on the relative cost-efficiency of LNG and pipelines,
i International Journal of Environmental Studies , Vol. 69, No. 3
.Taylor Francis.p. 407-426.This article develops a formal model for comparing the cost structure of the two main transport options for natural gas: liquefied natural gas (LNG) and pipelines. In particular, it evaluates how variations in the prices of natural gas and greenhouse gas emissions affect the relative cost-efficiency of these two options. [url] - Overland, Indra , Botha, Harald (2012). Mastergraden – din kompetanse for fremtiden. Oslo, Unipub. 103 pages. Få norske studenter setter seg egne, bevisste mål for hvilken kompetanse de skal få ut av mastergraden og -oppgaven. Målet med denne boken er derfor å hjelpe studenter til å ta bevisste valg for å få den kompetansen de har krav på, og dermed legge til rette for at veien blir kortere og mer målrettet fra avsluttet studium til en yrkeskarriere.
- Blakkisrud, Helge , Pål Kolstø
(2012). Dynamics of de facto statehood,
in Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, 12:2.
.Routledge.p. 281-298.The South Caucasian de facto states – Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Nagorno-Karabakh – have existed for almost 20 years now. This article offers a comparative analysis of how these statelets have attempted to consolidate statehood though processes of state- and nation-building. [url] - Haugevik, Kristin M., Julie Wilhelmsen
(2012). Leder Internasjonal Politikk,
i Internasjonal Politikk 02/2012
.Oslo,Universitetsforlaget.p. 155-157.I denne tidsskriftlederen ser redaktørene på faglig fortetting og utvidede studieobjekter innen faget internasjonal politikk, med et særlig fokus på global helse som felt. [url] - Godzimirski, Jakub M., Demakova, Ekaterina
(2012). Russian External Energy Strategy,
In Caroline Kuzemko, Andreas Goldthau, Andrei Belyi, Michael Keating (eds) Dynamics of Energy Governance in Europe and Russia
.London, New York,Palgrave Macmillan.p. 149–168.In this article, Demakova and Godzimirski discuss opportunities and constraints in Russian external energy strategy. [url] - Haugevik, Kristin M., Julie Wilhelmsen
(2012). Leder,
i Internasjonal Politikk Volum (70) 1.
.Oslo,Universitetsforlaget.p. 3-5. [url] - Overland, Indra , Hilde Kutschera
(2012). Subsidised Energy and Hesitant Elites in Russia,
in Flammable societies. Studies on the Socio-economics of Oil and Gas. McNeish, John-Andrew; Logan, Owen (eds.)
.London,Pluto.p. 201-218.In this book chapter, Indra Øverland and Hilde Kutschera examine the social discontent that higher energy prices in Russia may lead to, and the role fears over this discontent play in the hesitance of decision-makers. [url] - Kjærnet, Heidi
(2012). Living under the bullet: Internal displacement in the Azerbaijani oil boom,
in McNeish, John-Andrew and Owen Logan (eds.) Flammable societies. Studies on the socio-economics of oil and gas
.London,Pluto Press.p. 156-175.This chapter focuses on how the community of approximately 600,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Azerbaijan relate to the country’s oil boom. [url] - Blakkisrud, Helge , Pål Kolstø
(2012 ). Yielding to the sons of the soil,
in Ethnic and Racial Studies .
.Taylor & Francis.p. 1-21.In this article, Kolstø and Blakkisrud discuss the marginalization of the Armenian minority in Abkhazia. [url] - Blakkisrud, Helge
(2011). Medvedev's New Governors,
in Cameron Ross (ed.): Russian regional politics under Putin and Medvedev.
.London,Routledge.p. 7-36.Drawing a collective portrait of gubernatorial appointees, the article discusses the transformation of the gubernatorial corps during Medvedev's two first years as president. [url] - Godzimirski, Jakub M.
(2011). Polsk diaspora og norsk utenrikspolitikk,
i Internasjonal Politikk 04/2011
.Oslo,Universitetsforlaget.p. 617-640.Artikkelen ser på hvorfor og hvordan den raske framveksten av polsk diaspora i Norge de seneste årene har funnet sted, og hvilke følger dette kan få for norsk utenrikspolitikk. [url] - Godzimirski, Jakub M.
(2011). Diasporaer og norsk utenrikspolitikk ,
i Internasjonal Politikk 04/2011
.Oslo,Universitetsforlaget.p. 579-606.Artikkelen tar for seg forholdet mellom diasporaer og utenrikspolitikk generelt, og drøfter temaet i en norsk kontekst. [url] - Moen-Larsen, Natalia
(2011). Hjemme blant fremmede og fremmede hjemme: russiske kvinners identitetskonstruksjoner i en flerkulturell kontekst,
i Nordisk Østforum, vol. 25, nr. 4
.Oslo,Universitetsforlaget.p. 369–386.Artikkelen tar for seg russiske kvinnelige migranter i Norge og den sosiale konstruksjonen av identitet i en flerkulturell kontekst. Analysen baserer seg på diskurser russiske kvinner trekker på når de omtaler sin tilhørighet i lys av norsk nåtid og russisk fortid. [url] - Blakkisrud, Helge
(2011). En usikker historie. ,
i Nordisk Østforum, Volum 25(4). NUPI.
.Oslo,Universitetsforlaget.p. 317-319 . [url] - Godzimirski, Jakub M., Iver B. Neumann, Sharam Alghasi (2011). Norges nye vi. Oslo, HiO NUPI. 115 pages. Rapporten diskuterer hva slags påvirkning diasporaer har på norsk utenrikspolitikk
- Godzimirski, Jakub M. (2011). Nordic Approaches to Energy Security. Bratislava, Research Center of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association. 115 pages. The report presents the nordic approaches to energy security, and discusses what Ukraine could learnfrom the Nordic experience.
- Wilhelmsen, Julie , Geir Flikke
(2011). Russian-Chinese Convergence and Central Asia,
in Journal of Geopolitics no. 4, vol. 16
.Routledge.p. 865-901.The article argues that since the mid-1990s, China's and Russia's strategic outlooks have gradually been converging. The two great powers have incrementally shed their mutual apprehensions and started a comprehensive and multifaceted cooperation in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). In this sense, they have initiated a new geopolitical script around Central Asia. As their mutual interests hold sway over US influence regionally, questions remain on whether specific interests are compatible, or harbour new rivalries. [url] - Overland, Indra
(2011). Close Encounters: Russian Policy-Making and International Oil Companies,
in Elana Wilson Rowe and Julie Wilhelmsen (eds) Russia’s Encounter with Globalization
.New York,Palgrave Macmillan.p. 134-158.This chapter differs from several of the others in this volume in that it deals with Russia’s encounter with globalization in a domestic context, in the form of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Russian petroleum sector. The chapter uses the British-Russian petroleum company TNK-BP as a case study to look at the interface between foreign companies and Russian actors, and to deduce how decisions are made on the Russian side about the interaction with foreign companies. [url] - Godzimirski, Jakub M.
(2011). Nord Stream: Globalization in the Pipeline,
in Elana Wilson Rowe and Julie Wilhelmsen (eds) Russia’s Encounter with Globalization
.New York,Palgrave Macmillan.p. 159-184.The main goal of the chapter was to shed light on how realization of Russia’s strategic plans in the area of energy has become dependent on decisions made by other actors. This chapter addresses therefore the question of interdependence and its role in energy policy in Europe by looking at the way Russia had to take into consideration international concerns when realizing its strategic energy project, the construction of the Nord Stream pipeline. [url] - Wilson Rowe, Elana
(2011). Encountering Climate Change,
i Wilhelmsen, J og Wilson Rowe, E. (red.) i Russia's Encounter with Globalisation. Actors, Processes and Critical Moments.
http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?pid=484317
.England,Palgrave McMillan.p. .I dette kapittelet ser Elana Wilson Rowe på hvilke aktører, prosesser og vurderinger som påvirker russisk klimapolitikk. [url] - Wilhelmsen, Julie , Elana Wilson Rowe [ed.] (2011). Russia's Encounter with Globalization. Actors, Processes and Critical Moments. England, Palgrave Macmillan. 233 pages. How does Russia meet the challenges of globalisation? Through thorough analysis of different aspects of Russian policy, the contributors to this book reveals how Russia meets the world.
- Flikke, Geir (2011). Etterlevelse, tilpasning eller avvik. Oslo, NUPI. 85 pages. Rapporten er en gjennomgang av arbeidstakerrettigheter i tre land, Russland, Hviterussland og Kasakhstan (RuBeKa-landene)
- Flikke, Geir
(2011). Norway and the Arctic: Between Multilateral Governance and Geopolitics,
in Kraska, James (ed.) Arctic Security in an Age of Climate Change
.Cambridge University press.p. 64-84.The article analyzes Norwegian politics in the high north in light of multilateral institutions and new security challenges. The author maintains that Norway's politics is based on functional multilateral organizations and continuity and predictability in the UN framework. This can become more of a challenge if the competition for resource access hardens and the Arctic is defined as a strategically valuable area for one or more states. [url] - Godzimirski, Jakub M.
(2011). Russlands eksterne energistrategi: utfordringer og muligheter,
i Nordisk Østforum, vol. 25, nr. 2
.Oslo,Universitetsforlaget.Artikkelen tar for seg Russlands energistrategi etter krisen i 2008. Fokuset er på landets eksterne energistrategi generelt og på forholdet i energisektoren mellom Russland og EU og Tyskland spesielt. [url] - Flikke, Geir
(2011). Fasetter av globaliseringens maktforskyvninger. Statskapitalisme, sikkerhetsprivatisering og multipolaritet,
i Internasjonal Politikk, årgang 69, nr. 2
.Oslo,Universitetsforlaget.p. 321-332.Dette essayet tar for seg bøker av Allison Stanger, Ian Bremmer og Dilip Hiro om henholdsvis amerikansk makt og utenrikspolitikk; kampen mellom staten og privat sektor; og verden mot ny multipolaritet. [url] - Blakkisrud, Helge , Pål Kolstø
(2011). From Secessionist Conflict Toward a Functioning State: Processes of State- and Nation-Building in Transnistria,
in Post Soviet Affairs, vol. 27, no. 2
.Bellwether.p. 178-210.How have the Transnistrian authorities sought to consolidate de facto statehood in the absence of international recognition? Starting from the idea that the time factor will eventually transform secessionists into state-builders, this article traces how the processes of state- and nation-building promoted by the Transnistrian de facto authorities have evolved since the early 1990s. [url] - Overland, Indra
(2011). Cooperation instead of Confrontation. Shtokman, Jamal and Russia's Energy Policy,
i Osteuropa ,61. Jg., 2-3/2011
.Die Deutsche Gesellschaft für Osteuropakunde.p. 129-142. An engergy-driven competition over resources is not taking place in the far north, as most of the resources is in territories that Russia has the indisputable right to develop. What we witness is a beauty contest between international oil firms for the right to develop fields in the region. [url] - Blakkisrud, Helge
(2011). Medvedev's New Governors,
in Europe-Asia Studies 63:3 2011
.Routledge.p. 367-395.Drawing a collective portrait of gubernatorial appointees, the article discusses the transformation of the gubernatorial corps during Medvedev's two first years as president. [url] - Overland, Indra , Robert W. Orttung
(2011). A limited toolbox: Explaning the constraints on Russia's foreign energy policy,
i Journal of Eurasian Studies 2 (2011)
.Elsevier.p. 74-85.This analysis argues that the Russian leadership pursues a rational set of political and economic goals in its foreign energy policy, but that it is constrained in its efforts by the set of tools available to it. [url] - Overland, Indra , Hilde Kutchera
(2011). Pricing Pain: Social Discontent and Political Willpower in Russia's Gas Sector,
in Europe-Asia Studies vol. 63 2, 2011
.Taylor and Francis.p. 311-332.This article explores the influence of socio-economic discontent on the determination of decision makers to cut subsidies on natural gas for Russian households. The conclusion is that Russian policymaking is characterised by a pattern of 'two steps forward, one step back': decision makers are concerned about discontent, but nonetheless they ultimately press on with reform. [url] - Flikke, Geir , Helge Blakkisrud, Einar Wigen, Pål Kolstø (2011). The Shifting Geopolitics of the Black Sea Region . Oslo, Nupi. 73 pages. The Black Sea Region stands out as a region where realpolitik has come to the fore. This report maps the drivers that currently affect the shifting geopolitics of the Black Sea region.
- Overland, Indra , Robert Orttung
(2011). Russia and the Formation of a Gas Cartel,
in Problems of Post-Communism Volum 58.(3)
.M.E. Sharpe.p. 53-66.The growing institutionalization of the Gas Exporting Countries' Forum gives Russia the ability to coordinate with other producers. Should it decide to do so, European consumers would be less able to seek out competing suppliers. [url]