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Rapid climate change in the Arctic triggers the remobilization of chemical pollution, increasing its exposure and potential impacts in the region. While scientific knowledge on multiple stressors, including the interlinkages between climate change and hazardous chemicals, is increasing, it has proven challenging to translate this knowledge into policy. This study analyzes the process of translating Arctic scientific knowledge on multiple stressors into global policy by focusing on the development of a guidance document under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). Through document analysis and key informant interviews, we focus particularly on the role of the Arctic Council working group AMAP in synthesizing, translating and communicating science on multiple stressors to policy makers. We draw on the theoretical framework of formalization (how and by whom knowledge is summarized for policy) and separation (the relative distance between science and policy) to analyze the science-to-policy interface. Our analysis of the phases leading up to the guidance document show that AMAP has dynamically moved between different degrees of separation and formalization. Orchestrating the interplay between scientists and policy makers, the working group has put multiple stressors on the political agenda internationally. AMAP has thereby contributed to turn Arctic science into global policy through the guidance document. We conclude by illustrating several constraints in terms of the implementation of actual policy, which we argue is due to an increasing degree of formalization in the last phase and a general unreadiness of contemporary governance systems to address multiple stressors.

Congratulates the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) on its 50th anniversary for all it has done within foreign policy research throughout the years. The closest relative to NUPI in Norway is the Fridtjof Nansen Institute (FNI), which focuses on environmental and energy politics, whereas the first mentioned is a clear leader in general political research. L. Pitkaniemi

The ethical merits of three major strategies to confront global warming -- prevention, adaptation, & geoengineering -- are considered. From the point of view of consequentialist ethics, the choice between prevention & adaptation depends on the exact set of consequences taken into consideration. Adaptation is likely to be the preferable option if only consequences for humans here & now are emphasized. By contrast, if one also takes into account effects for humans in other parts of the world, for future generations, or for other species, the case for prevention is strengthened. However, it is probably too late to avoid global warming altogether. The question is therefore if we should try to recreate the "original" climate through geoengineering. A number of ethical objections to this strategy are being discussed. The general conclusion is that, for now at least, we ought to prevent global warming as far as possible, & otherwise adapt as best we can to the climatic changes that nevertheless arise. 1 Table, 30 References. Adapted from the source document.

In a critical review of the work of E. H. Carr on international politics, Carr's stature as an early critic of Western-Soviet relations is discussed. Carr, best known for his works What Is History? (1962) & The Twenty Years' Crisis (1939), had good timing: eg, his analysis of the failure of policy toward the Central Powers & the USSR appeared on the eve of WWII. Carr was a pioneering figure in that he served both as influential historian & influential policymaker in the British Foreign Office during this period, & his assessment of realism & utopianism, while critiqued in the intervening years, is part of a body of work that still holds value today, particularly for students of international politics. 9 References. A. Siegel

The Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) can be seen as the most central agent in the Norwegian foreign policy scene and is known for its many good seminars and talented researchers. A researcher from the Institute for Labour and Social Research (Fafo) congratulates NUPI for its achievements and hopes for a continuing good relationship between the institutes. L. Pitkaniemi

Provides a portrait of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) that turned 50 years in 2009. Even if the institute started from a relatively restricted research perspective on the East-West relations, it has grown to include a large variety of areas from development to security policy. The institute has a legal status, official control, organizational essence and its main task is to enlighten international relation. Despite its institutional status, the research conducted by NUPI is distinguished from both academic basic research and user-oriented consulting solutions. What really distinguishes NUPI, however, is its status as the only research institute that focuses on foreign policy and international relations that are of Norwegian interest and produced in the Norwegian language. L. Pitkaniemi