Department of Security and Conflict Management / Departments / Activities / nupi.no / NUPI

The unit does applied research, policy analysis, concept development and assistance on multinational and multidimensional peace support and stability operations and related themes.

The department works with both civilian and military partners in national and international settings. We seek to address most aspects of peace support operations from intervention to long term peace building and security sector reform. The department may also do evaluations and assessments of ongoing national and international projects and operations.

The department consists of five programs with a permanent staff of ten researchers, advisers and military fellows at NUPI, with another three in Bosnia. Another ten to fifteen associated researchers from other units at NUPI and elsewhere are involved in projects at the department. Such arrangements provide both a broad pool of professional expertise as well as operational flexibility.

Current research [More]

Civilian Capacity 2012-

The project seeks to generate knowledge on the challenges facing civilian capacities within UN peacekeeping and peacebuilding operations, as well as recommending ways in which they can be addressed. More

Protection of Civilians 2012-

This project seeks to contribute to ongoing process of mainstreaming the Protection of Civilians into the African Peace and Security Architecture. More

Peacekeeping & Peacebuilding Nexus 2012-

This project will focus on synergies and challenges of the transition between peacekeeping and peacebuilding. More

Completed projects [More]

Women, Peace and Security and the Protection of Civilians. Challenges to Implementing Resolution 1820 in MINURCAT, Chad 2009-2010

Prosjektet tar utgangspunkt i FNs Sikkerhetsrådsresolusjon 1325, med spesifikt fokus på Protection of Civilians og implementeringen av FNs Sikkerhetsrådsresolusjon 1820 mot seksualisert og kjønnsbasert vold i MINURCAT, Tsjad. More

Gender Dynamics in Peace Operations (MONUC) 2009-2010

The project builds on earlier fieldwork in the DRC and the security sector reform (SSR) processes in the country. The project will examine the development of a Congolese security sector as the major perpetrator group of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). More

AfPak - NOREF Policy Briefs 2009-2010

Five policy briefs from NUPI’s Afghanistan and Pakistan Programme to inform Norwegian and international policy makers on the challenges ahead in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the region as a whole. More

Publications

de Coning, Cedric H., John Karlsrud, Ingrid Marie Breidlid (2013). Turning to the South: Civilian Capacity in the Aftermath of Conflict,
in Global Governance 19 (2013)
.Boulder, Colorado,Lynne Rienner Publishers.p. 135-152.The article argues that UN civilian capacity reform initiatives must overcome the bureaucratic tendency of looking at how to improve and expand the current system, and turn to emerging external service providers, particularly in the South. While the UN should continue to have a core staff for peacekeeping and peacebuilding purposes, it should to a much larger degree use local and regional capacities, and only resort to international capacity as a last resort. This should also be a dictum for the World Bank, EU, AU and member states engaged in supporting states in the aftermath of conflict. The article reviews the reform efforts so far and gives tangible recommendations for how the UN, regional organizations and member states should take the reform initiatives forward. [url]
Schia, Niels Nagelhus, Benjamin de Carvalho, (2013). Sexual and Gender-Based Violence and the Rule of Law in Liberia,
in Benjamin de Carvalho and Ole Jacob Sending (eds.) The Protection of Civilians in UN Peacekeeping: Concept, Implementation and Practice.
.Baden-Baden,Nomos. [url]
Schia, Niels Nagelhus (2013). Horseshoe and Catwalk – Power and Complexity in the United Nations Security Council. NUPI Working Paper: 816. 14 pages. This working paper is part of a project in which the author aims to explain why peacebuilding is a cumbersome and not always successful project by investigating power relations in the UN (United Nations) and the complexity of this organization. The working paper also discusses to what extent and how anthropology can extract the general from the unique - the notion of generalizability.
Karlsrud, John (2013). Responsibility to Protect and Theorising Normative Change in International Organisations: From Weber to the Sociology of Professions,
in Global Responsibility to Protect 5 (1)
.Brill . [url]
de Coning, Cedric H., Walter Lotze (2013). South Africa,
in Alex J. Bellamy and Paul D. Williams (eds.) Providing Peacekeepers: The Politics, Challenges, and Future of United Nations Peacekeeping Contribution s.
.Oxford,Oxford University Press.This chapter is one of sixteen country studies in the book, and it examines why South Africa contributes peacekeepers, the factors that inhibit contributions, and ways in which the UN might strengthen its capacity to secure more and better peacekeepers. [url]
Sverdrup, Ulf , Joakim Hertzberg Ulstein, Mikkel Frøsig Pedersen, Halvard Leira, Ståle Ulriksen (2013). Norske interesser - sett fra utestasjonene. Oslo, NUPI. 43 pages.
Karlsrud, John , Diana Felix da Costa (2013). The Elusive Concept of Protection of Civilians: A Case-Study of the United Nations Mission to the Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT),
In de Carvalho, B. & Sending, O.J., (eds.), The Protection of Civilians in UN Peacekeeping.Concept, Implementation and Practice
.Baden-Baden ,Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft. [url]
Caparini , Marina (2013). State protection of the Czech Roma and the Canadian Refugee System,
In Didier Bigo, Sergio Carrera and Elspeth Guild, eds., Foreigners, Refugees or Minorities?: Rethinking People in the Context of Border Controls and Visas .
An earlier version of this text is available as a CEPS Working Paper.
.Ashgate. [url]
de Coning, Cedric H. (2013). Understanding Peacebuilding as Essentially Local,
in Stability 2 (1).
Self-sustainable peace is directly linked to, and influenced by, the extent to which a society has the capacity and space to self-regulate. The robustness and resilience of the self-organising capacity of a society determines the extent to which it can withstand pressures and shocks that risk a (re)lapse into violent conflict. Peacebuilding should be about safeguarding, stimulating, facilitating and creating the space for societies to develop robust and resilient capacities for self-organisation. The art of peacebuilding thus lies in pursuing the appropriate balance between international support and home-grown context-specific solutions.
.Ubiquity Press. [url]
Reichborn-Kjennerud, Erik (2013). NATO in the ‘New’ MENA Region. Oslo, NUPI. 55 pages. SiP.
Karlsrud, John (2013). The UN as a competitive arena for linked ecologies: The case of UN peacekeeping,
in Political Perspectives, 7
.Manchester,University of Manchester.p. 6-25.This article argues that the UN, in the area of peacekeeping, can be understood as a competitive arena, where informal policy alliances are competing to frame issues and build support for new norms, concepts and rules. [url]
Karlsrud, John , Marko Savkovic (2012). Harnessing Serbian Civilian Capacity for Peace Support Operations: A Nascent Community?,
in Journal of Regional Security 7 (2)
.Belgrade,BCSP. [url]
Karlsrud, John , Diana Felix da Costa (2012). Contextualising Liberal Peacebuilding for Local Circumstances: Unmiss and Local Peacebuilding In South Sudan,
in Journal of Peacebuilding and Development 7 (2)
.London,Routledge. [url]
Reichborn-Kjennerud, Erik (2012). Operationalising the Responsibility to Protect,
in Conflict Trends 4
.ACCORD. [url]
de Coning, Cedric H. (2012). Complexity, Peacebuilding and Coherence. Stellenbosch, University of Stellenbosch. 368 pages. Cedric de Coning's phd dissertation explores the utility of using Complexity studies to improve our understanding of peacebuilding and the coherence dilemma, which is regarded as one of the most significant problems facing peacebuilding interventions.
de Coning, Cedric H., Paul Keating (2012). CivCap Network Annual Seminar 2012. Brasilia, Civilian Capacity Network. 19 pages. This report provides an overview of discussions during the 2012 Civilian Capacity Network seminar, organized by NUPI and Igarapé Institute.
Schia, Niels Nagelhus (2012). Consensus making in the United Nations Security Council : how informal processes may enforce inequality. NUPI Working Paper: 814. 32 pages. How do small states behave once they have a seat at the table? Based on anthropological fieldwork, the author describes how one small state – Norway – operated during its previous membership of the United Nations Security Council.
Solhjell, Randi , Niels Nagelhus Schia, Marcela Donadio, Ancil Adrian-Paul, Juan Rial , Renata Giannini (2012). Turning UNSC Resolution 1325 into operational practice. Oslo, NUPI. 40 pages. SiP. This report focuses on the integration of gender perspectives in the armed forces serving in international operations, including the UN missions in DR Congo, Liberia and Haiti, in addition to the Norwegian contribution in Afghanistan.
Reichborn-Kjennerud, Erik , Karsten Friis , Harald Håvoll (2012). Revising COIN: The Stakeholder Centric Approach. NUPI Working Paper: 810. 32 pages. As the international counterinsurgency (COIN) operations in Afghanistan draws to a close, the utility of this approach to war-fighting is being questioned and increasingly challenged. The article argues that despite certain flaws, both in doctrine and implementation, there are important insights from COIN worth maintaining. It argues that COIN should be revised, not scrapped.
Schia, Niels Nagelhus, John Karlsrud (2012). Contextualizing peacebuilding activities to local circumstances. Oslo, NUPI. 30 pages. Security in Practice. This final and comparative report summarizes the findings from the three field reports that have constituted the project Contextualizing peacebuilding activities to local circumstances. This project was conducted as a comparative study of UN local-level peacebuilding in three countries – Haiti, Liberia and South Sudan.
de Coning, Cedric H., Linnéa Gelot, Ludwig Gelot [ed.] (2012). Supporting African Peace Operations . , NUPI, The Nordic Africa Institute, Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation. 117 pages. Policy Dialogue No.8. This report examines four challenges: 1) the AU Commission’s limited capacity to plan and manage peace operations; 2) insufficient political engagement by African member states with AU peace operations; 3) the short-termism and self-interest of some of the AU’s partners; 4) and the need for UN Security Council permanent members to value and ensure a shared AU-UN strategic vision.
Gjelsvik, Ingvild Magnæs , Tore Bjørgo (2012). Ex-Pirates in Somalia: Processes of Engagement, Disengagement, and Reintegration,
i Journal of Scandinavian Studies in Criminology and Crime Prevention Volume 13, Issue 2, 2012.
.Taylor & Francis. This study addresses how and why individuals in Somalia get involved in piracy activities, and how and why some of these individuals eventually disengage from such criminal groups. [url]
Karamé, Kari (2012). Women’s participation in political decision-making and recovery processes in post-conflict Lebanon,
in Albrecht Schnabel and Anara Tabyshalieva (eds.): Defying victimhood: women and post-conflict peacebuilding.
.United Nations University Press.p. 286-308.Lebanese women were first elected to their National Assembly in 1992. After this, the proportion of women remained at 3-4 out of 128 representatives, and 2-3 women in governments. The author discusses the reasons for this: religion, political or cultural patriarchy. One of the consequences may be that areas traditionally prioritized by women, health care, education and housing were not emphasized during the reconstruction of the country. [url]
Caparini , Marina (2012). Ensuring Long-Term Protection,
in Transitional Justice and Displacement , ed. Roger Duthie (New York: Social Science Research Council, 2012).
.New York,Social Science Research Council.p. 279-326.This article examines the intersection between transitional justice, displacement and security sector reform (SSR). It examines how justice-sensitive SSR principles and processes can contribute to meeting the immediate protection needs of refugees and IDPs, and support the development of longer-term durable solutions to displacement. [url]
Stamnes, Eli (2012). The Responsibility to Protect: Integrating Gender Perspectives into Policies and Practices,
i Global Responsibility to Protect, Volume 4, Issue 2
.Brill.p. 172-179.Gender remains a neglected topic in the central documents and debates related to the Responsibility to Protect (R2P). There is thus a need to consider how gender may be integrated into R2P policies and practices. This article suggests that this discussion may be structured around two gender perspectives, which are guided by the questions of ‘where are the women?’ and ‘how does gender work?’ respectively. [url]
Karlsrud, John , Randi Solhjell (2012). Gender-Sensitive Protection and the Responsibility to Prevent: Lessons from Chad ,
in Global Responsibility to Protect, Volume 4, Issue 2
.Brill.p. 223 – 240 .The R2P concept relates as much to preventing mass atrocities as to halt on-going ones. This article emphasises the gender dimensions of prevention of and protection against violence and other threats, in order to stress the importance of implementing and mainstreaming gender into R2P. The case study here is the UN support mission to Chad and the Central African Republic (MINURCAT) that provided a fairly encouraging, albeit short-lived, example of gender-responsive measures at the community level for refugees and IDPs in eastern Chad. [url]
Stamnes, Eli , Sara E. Davies (2012). GR2P The Responsibility to Protect and Sexual and Gender Based violence (SGBV) ,
in Global Responsibility to Protect, Volume 4, Issue 2
.Brill.p. 127-132.NUPI researcher Eli Stamnes and Sara E. Davies from Griffith University have edited this special issue of the journal Global Responsibility to Protect devoted to articles on R2P and sexual and gender based violence. [url]
de Coning, Cedric H., Joanna Harvey, Lillah Fearley [ed.] (2012). UN DPKO/DFS Civil Affairs Handbook. New York, UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations. 251 pages. Civil Affairs Officers play a key role in peacekeeping operations. This handbook is intended as a platform on which to build and refine future guidance for civil affairs work.
Friis , Karsten (2012). Which Afghanistan? Military, Humanitarian, and State-Building Identities in the Afghan Theater,
in Security Studies 21, no. 2
.Routledge.p. 266-300.Ten years of international intervention in Afghanistan—why has so little been achieved? By analyzing the military, humanitarian, and state-building identities in Afghanistan through their spatial, temporal, and ethical dimensions, the article seeks to demonstrate the utility of discourse analysis for studying interventions, and to provide preliminary answers to why the results in Afghanistan have been so meager. [url]
Schia, Niels Nagelhus, Neumann, Hannah (2012). Liberian case-study field report . Oslo, NUPI. 48 pages. Security in Practice 6 · 2012. The report examines how the UN peacebuilding mission in Liberia (UNMIL) can be implemented with good local-level ownership.
Karlsrud, John , Felix da Costa, Diana (2012). Moving towards local-level peacebuilding?. Oslo, NUPI. 53 pages. Security in Practice 5 · 2012. In this case-study report Felix da Costa and Karlsrud examine early peacebuilding activities and local circumstances in South Sudan. The report seeks to elucidate some core research questions developed jointly by NUPI and UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations Best Practices.
Karlsrud, John , Felix da Costa, Diana (2012). UN local peacebuilding and transition in Haiti. Oslo, NUPI. 51 pages. Security in Practice 4 · 2012. In this report Felix de Costa and Karlsrud examine the UN peacekeeping operations in Haiti, assessing how the UN could maneuver to help establish good local governance institutions with community-based ownership.
Hansen, Vegard Valther, Trine Nikolaisen, Helge Lurås (2012). Etter beste evne . Oslo, NUPI-rapport . 19 pages. Security in Practice. Denne rapporten gir en kort oversikt over Forsvarets innsats innen Operational Mentoring and Liaison Teams (OMLT) i Afghanistan. Forsvarets arbeid har vært rettet inn mot Afghan National Army (ANA). Hensikten er å gi anbefalinger om fortsettelsen av dette arbeidet i Afghanistan, men også å skape et erfaringsgrunnlag for eventuelt liknende oppdrag i fremtiden.
Ulriksen, Ståle (2012). Et nytt "great game"?,
i Exit Afghanistan.
.Oslo,Universitetsforlaget.p. 263-271.I dette bokkapitlet forklarer Ulriksen hvorfor tilbaketrekningen av Nato-styrker fra Afghanistan kan virke som en katalysator for større regionalt samarbeid. [url]
Nikolaisen, Trine , John Karlsrud (2011). Ti år i Afghanistan - hva nå?. Oslo, Utenriksdepartementet. 32 pages. Rapporten oppsummerer innholdet i Sikkerhetspolitisk konferanse 2011 som handlet om Afghanistan. Rapporten er strukturert rundt to hovedspørsmål: Hva har Norge og vesten oppnådd i Afghanistan, og hva har vi lært.
de Coning, Cedric H. (2011). Civilian Peacekeeping Capacity: Mobilizing Partners to Match Supply and Demand,
in International Peacekeeping, Volume 18, Issue 5
.Taylor&Francis.p. 577-592.This article proposes the formation of a global civilian capacity partnership that brings together the training and roster community, the UN Secretariat and a grouping of interested states, with the aim of significantly improving the UN Secretariat's ability to identify, recruit and deploy suitably qualified civilian personnel. [url]
de Coning, Cedric H., Andreas Øien Stensland, Kjeksrud, Stian, Ravndal, Jacob Aasland, Lotze, Walter, Weir, Erin A. (2011). Protection of civilians in armed conflict. Oslo, Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI). 59 pages. This report provides a comprehensive overview and comparison of current Protection of Civilians-activities and practises among the most relevant international- and non-governmental organisations.
Schia, Niels Nagelhus, Stang, Geral (2011). Historical Overview of Civil Affairs in UN Peace Operations. NUPI Working Paper: . 44 pages.
Karlsrud, John , Morten Dehli Andreassen (2011). Bakgrunnsdokument: Ti år i Afghanistan - hva nå?. Oslo, NUPI. 16 pages. Rapport om hva det internasjonale bidraget har bragt Afghanistan og veien videre.
de Carvalho, Benjamin , Cedric H. de Coning, Mikkel Frøsig Pedersen, Audun Solli (2011). Training in vain? Bottlenecks in Deploying Civilians for UN Peacekeeping,
in International Peacekeeping, vol. 18, no 4
.Routledge.p. 425-438.The article explores the bottlenecks hampering the recrutiment and deployment of trained personnel, especially civilians. An increased number of trained personnel has not translated into higher deployment rates. Unless the UN and international training programmes address this paradox, the risk of training in vain will remain. [url]
Caparini , Marina , Kari Marie Kjellstad, Trine Nikolaisen, Kari Marie Kjellstad (2011). A Stocktaking of Norwegian Engagement in Security Sector Reform . Oslo, NUPI. 89 pages. NUPI-rapport. The report examines scope and nature of Norwegian support to security sector reform programmes.
Karlsrud, John , Felix da Costa, D. (2011). Navigating Hybrid Political Orders: Balancing Peacebuilding in Chad,
in Conflict trends 2011/3
.ACCORD.p. 13-20.This article argues that a more bottom-up oriented approach to peacebuilding, which strengthens local confidence in – and ownership of – formal and traditional institutions, can improve the success of peacekeeping operations. [url]
Karlsrud, John , Piccolino, G. (2011). Withering consent, but mutual dependency: UN peace operations and new African assertiveness,
in Conflict, Security and Development 11(4)
.Routledge.p. . [url]
de Coning, Cedric H., John Karlsrud, Ingrid Marie Breidlid (2011). Conference Proceedings: Mobilizing Civilian Capacity. Oslo, NUPI. 24 pages. The international civilian training and rostering community met in New York on 14 June 2011 to consider the Report of the Independent Review of Civilian Capacity in the Aftermath of Conflict, and discussed how to take the recommendations forward.
de Coning, Cedric H., Ingrid Marie Breidlid, Rebecca Jovin, PK Singh (2011). Conference Proceedings: Report of the Conference on Peacekeeping Vision 2015 Capabilities for Future Mandates. Oslo, NUPI. 55 pages. NUPI Report. The conference explored the capabilities required to enable future peacekeeping missions to respond effectively to diverse and evolving operating environments and increasingly complex mandates
Schia, Niels Nagelhus (2011). FNs sikkerhetsråd: Vidstrakt politikk, innadvendt blikk,
i Internasjonal Politikk, årgang 69, nr. 2
.Oslo,Universitetsforlaget.p. 183-203.Artikkelen diskuterer uformelle sosiale prosesser i FNs sikkerhetsråd. Rådet er utad preget av sterk formalitet, men i tillegg til retningslinjer, maktfordelingsprinsippet og prosedyrer for beslutningsprosesser, finner det sted uformelle, sosiale prosesser medlemmene imellom som har stor betydning for utfallet av sakene Rådet behandler. [url]
Schia, Niels Nagelhus, Benjamin de Carvalho (2011). Protection from Sexual and Gender-based Violence in Liberia: A Role for Traditional Justice?,
in Conflict Trends 1
.ACCORD.p. 38-42.The article investigates the tension between addressing specific issues per se, and viewing them within their broader context of pre-existing traditional mechanisms for dealing with conflicts – so-called traditional justice mechanisms. [url]
Reichborn-Kjennerud, Erik , Harald Håvoll (2011). Småstaters møte med irregulære trusler. , Forsvarets Høgskole. 62 pages. Rapporten diskuterer utfordringer knyttet til irregulære trusler i utenlandsoperasjoner, hva slike operasjoner krever, og hvordan småstater som Norge best kan bidra i dem.
Vermeij, Lotte (2011). In Group Socialization and Reintegration Challenges: A Study of the Lord's Resistance Army in Northern Uganda,
in A.Özerdem and S. Podder (eds.) ChildSoldiers: From Recruitment to Reintegration
.London,Palgrave Macmillan.In this book chapter the author investigates the socialization and reintegration of child soldiers in Northern Uganda [url]
de Carvalho, Benjamin , Niels Nagelhus Schia (2011). Local and National Ownership in Post-Conflict Liberia : Foreign and Domestic Inside Out?. NUPI Working Paper: 787. 27 pages. The paper takes as its starting point the difficulties encountered in implementing policies aimed at fostering local and national ownership in peacekeeping activities. Especially important in this respect are training programmes aimed at sensitizing people working in peacekeeping operations to the inherent difficulties of local ownership in post-conflict environments.

Ståle Ulriksen

Security in Practice Seminar