Suchergebnisse

The Minamata Convention, which entered into force on 16 August 2017, is a global, legally binding instrument on mercury. The initiative on the Minamata Convention was mainly driven by research showing negative effects on human health and the environment in the Arctic. The Arctic Council, an intergovernmental forum promoting cooperation on Arctic issues, and its Working Group, AMAP, played an important role in the process leading up to international negotiations on the Minamata Convention. This paper elucidates the evolutionary process in which scientific knowledge, herded by an intergovernmental, regional forum, is involved and forms the basis for a legally binding agreement. The paper provides new insight on multilevel governance of the mercury issue and unravels the role that AMAP has played in this dynamic process.

Traditionally a distinction has been made between political theory, which concerns itself with relations within a nation-state, and international politics, which focuses on relations between nation-states. Yet these two areas can often overlap. The result is a cross-discipline commonly known as international political theory. This subject area is the focus of a new journal. Adapted from the source document.

Discusses how the importance of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) has increased over the years for anthropologist, sociologist, political scientists and economist especially in the realm of war and peace research. Many things in NUPI have changed over the years -- among them increased journal publications and a more visible international role. L. Pitkaniemi

Since the early 1950's the foreign policy of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) towards Sweden and the other Western European states was dominated by a striving for diplomatic recognition. This thesis examines that striving through an analysis of the East German-Swedish relations from 1949 until 1972. The main focus is on the years 1954-1972. The thesis draws mainly on East German archival material from the ruling communist party SED (Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands) and the GDR foreign ministry. A starting point of the thesis is that GDR generally used all its contacts abroad to further its foreign political goals. GDR's efforts to develop the relations with Sweden on seven different areas are investigated. An important aim is to analyse GDR's political utilisation of areas, such as culture and traffic, that normally are not considered political or studied by traditional political history. The application of the concept of public diplomacy is central in this context. The analysis of the Ostseewoche (Baltic Week) is a significant part of the investigation of areas that traditionally not are considered as being part of foreign policy. The Osteewoche was a week filled with cultural activities and sport. The analysis of the inaugural ceremony and other activities of the Ostseewoche shows that even official East German ceremonies were used for purposes of foreign policy. However, GDR's relations with Sweden on the normal foreign policy arenas such as diplomacy and economy are also analysed. Great weight is given to analysing the perceptions of the political elite and the foreign policy actors to understand why certain actions were taken and why certain elements were significant of the GDR foreign policy. The question of which political instruments were the most important to the East German efforts to improve the relations with Sweden is also investigated. An important result of the thesis is that GDR had a comprehensive strategy for the development of the relations with Sweden. The main elements of this strategy were in place 1958 and did largely not change since. The spreading of a positive GDR-image was a very significant element of the East German foreign policy. Sweden was one of the most important Western European countries to the GDR foreign policy during this period of time.

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 purpose of this dissertation is to describe and analyze how the Soviet Union attempted to win the sympathies of the Swedish population during the period 1945-1958 through the All-Union Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries (VOKS) and the Sweden-Soviet Union Societies. The dissertation includes the central Soviet decision-making apparatus' general formulation of strategy and what means were to be used to win the sympathies of populations in other countries. Concerning VOKS's work targeting Sweden, this dissertation examines the general strategies and means used in practice. This dissertation links these activities with realism which serves as an analytical framework. Realism focuses states seeking their security in the international system. Security is considered achievable through strategies for using different means of force, in this case, diplomacy and its sub-instruments in the form of soft power and public diplomacy. Immediately after World War II, VOKS was seen by the Soviets as a tool for countering American and British propaganda. VOKS's reorganization in the early 1950s led to more country-specific activities. Increasingly in the 1950s VOKS sought out partners from outside organizations associated with national communist parties. This strategy aimed to optimally convey the message and to popularize the Soviet Union. This also led to a decline in VOKS's importance. VOKS during the period 1945-1958 can be viewed as a collaborative project between the state and the party. The Soviet Union, through VOKS, used the Sweden-USSR Society to popularize the country among the Swedish public. VOKS took increasingly greater control over the societies' activities, which were reviewed and approved by the Soviet Embassy in Stockholm and VOKS in Moscow. To develop these societies, VOKS increased its efforts to influence the Communist Party of Sweden (SKP) to take part in the societies' activities. At the suggestion of VOKS in Moscow, the local Sweden-USSR societies formed a national organization in the autumn of 1950 called the Sweden-Soviet Union Federation. After 1953, VOKS's interest intensified in implementing and developing cultural collaborations with other actors in addition to the societies. Near the end of VOKS's existence, representatives from the Soviet Embassy and VOKS tried to establish an intergovernmental cultural agreement with Sweden. However, no such agreement was ever signed. The Soviet Union continued to channel most of its public diplomacy toward Sweden through the societies.

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

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

Established in 1937, the Norwegian journal Internasjonal politikk (IP) came about as an important part of efforts to establish International Relations as a field of study in Norway. Elsewhere, interest in the field was already evident in the aftermath of the First World War. In response to an approach by the Institute of Intellectual Cooperation in Paris towards members of the Norwegian academic community, a committee for the pursuit of the study of International Relations in Norway was formed in 1936, headed by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Christian Lous Lange of Norway. From 1937 on, the publication of a Norwegian-language journal of International Relations became a major focus of the work of the committee. Its profile was established in the first issue: the journal was to be "impartial, objective and written in a popular form". Arne Ording, a historian and leading architect of Norway's Second World War and post-war foreign policy, was to be the first editor of Internasjonal Politikk. In 1960, the journal was transferred to the newly established Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI). Here it became part of the institute's strategy for research on International Relations in general and Norwegian foreign policy in particular, and as an important part of this, research-based public information. Since Internasjonal politikk was not published during the five years of Nazi occupation, it turns 70 in the year of its 65th volume. Adapted from the source document.