Upcoming Events

China - The Perfect Dictatorship

Seminar with Stein Ringen

Mon, 25 Sep 2017 14:00-16:00 - PRIO, Hausmanns gate 3, Oslo

The Chinese system is like no other known to man, now or in history, holds Stein Ringen. Politically, it is a dictatorship that is so effective and smooth that it in some respects does not even look dictatorial. It does not tell the Chinese what they must do but it controls that they do not do what they must not. It is a "controlocracy."

Professor Ringen shall explain how the controlocracy works and how hard the dictatorship really is under the pretense of benevolence, while introducing his recent book The Perfect Dictatorship: China in the 21st Century (Hong Kong University Press 2016).

Research Professor Stein Tønnesson (PRIO) will serve as commentator.

Gender, Migration and Trafficking in Europe

Co-organised with Symbiosis - Greece and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung - Cyprus Supported by Royal Norwegian Embassy - Greece and Cyprus

Fri, 29 Sep 2017 09:30-18:00 - Centre for Visual Arts and Research - 285 Ermou Street, Nicosia

The conference seeks to chart the links between migration and gender as they appear across Europe today. Gender is central to any discussion of the causes and consequences of regular and irregular migration and forced displacement. The power dynamics and types of violence associated with migration have also been gendered. Today, with Europe experiencing the effects of the radical changes in refugee movements since 2015, the links between gender, migration, and the violence they entail needs to be asked anew, at the national, local and European levels, in policy making as well as implementation.

Eighth High-Level Seminar on Gender and Inclusive Peace Processes

Tue, 10 October 2017 - Helsinki, Finland

The eighth High-Level Seminar on Gender and Inclusive Peace Processes will be held in Helsinki, 10–12 October 2017. The High-level Seminar is designed to generate more consultative processes by promoting women’s effective participation and building inclusive, gender-sensitive mediation capacity at international, regional and national levels.

Media Studies and Humanitarian crisis – state of scholarship

Humanitarian Studies Colloquium

Wed, 11 Oct 2017 13:30-15:30 - PRIO, Hausmanns gate 3, Oslo

On 11 October the Norwegian Centre for Humanitarian Studies (NCHS), the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), and the Department of Journalism and Media Studies at Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences (HiOA) will host the fourthHumanitarian Studies Colloquium focusing on media.

The Humanitarian Studies Colloquium is a quarterly forum for scholarly discussion of methodological and thematic issues in the emergent field of humanitarian studies, taking place at PRIO. The Colloquium is organized in collaboration with the Humanitarianism Research Group at PRIO, and is open to invited participants. The disciplinary focuses of past colloquiums included history, the sociology of law, and anthropology.

Cyber-Peace: Meet Google’s Jared Cohen

Fri, 13 Oct 2017 11:30-12:30 - PRIO, Hausmanns gate 3, Oslo

PRIO has the pleasure of inviting you to an informal lunch-time meeting with Jared Cohen, CEO of Jigsaw (formerly Google Ideas), a subsidiary of Google's parent company that builds technology to make the world safer. He will discuss Jigsaw's efforts to defend human rights.

Jigsaw focuses on defending against cyber attacks, empowering free expression, protecting journalism and free press, and mitigating hatred and harassment online. Here is a recent op-ed in the New York Times from Jared Cohen, arguing for more multinational cooperation to promote cyber-peace and norms of cyber conflict.

In 2010 Cohen was appointed the first director of Google Ideas after having served on the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning staff under both Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton. He is also an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Council for Foreign Relations.

A light lunch will be served

Fake News and Fact Resistance

Mon, 23 Oct 2017 12:00-15:30 - Gamle Festsal, University of Oslo

This memorial seminar is organized in honor of Hans Rosling, founder of Gapminder and world renowned scholar and inspiratory. The seminar is the second of the Oslo Lectures on Peace and Conflict and is organized by UiO Centre for Global Health, Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), UiO Departement of Economics and UiO Life Sciences.

Let's discuss the challenges of exaggerated numbers, of identifying and reaching populations in humanitarian emergencies, and the implications for the politics of human progress.

Follow this link for registration!

Norwegian Values, Collective Identities, and a Resilient Society

A Conference about July 22 Six Years Later, and the Societal Aftermath of a Tragedy

Tue, 24 Oct 2017 09:30-15:30 - PRIO, Hausmanns gate 3, Oslo

The PRIO-led project "NECORE" (Negotiating Values: Collective Identities and Resilience after 22/7) will convene a conference highlighting important aspects of its research, and with several invited guests who will contribute to the conversation. A full program will be ready around September 20.

You may already sign up for the conference.

Book launch: Migration, Transnationalism and Catholicism

Fri, 27 Oct 2017 08:30-10:00 - PRIO, Hausmanns gate 3, Oslo

The intersections of 'Migration, Transnationalism and Catholicism' become apparent in migrants’ religious transnationalism, but also in the effects of migration-related-diversity on non-migrant Catholics and the Church itself. The extent to which migrants’ religiosity transforms Catholicism, and the negotiations of unity in diversity within the Roman Catholic Church, are some of the themes running through the book, which will be discussed during this book launch.

Nuclear Security: Current Challenges and Opportunities

Mon, 06 Nov 2017 09:00-13:00 - PRIO, Hausmanns gate 3, Oslo

Negotiating the Nation: Implications of Ethnic and Religious Diversity for National Identity

Final Conference

Mon, 20 Nov 2017 09:00-15:30 - University of Oslo

National identity is not a fixed entity, and through the parallel processes of globalization, migration, and secularization, more traditional and static notions of national identity appear to be under pressure. The NATION project explores ongoing negotiations of the nation in contemporary European societies, based on the empirical cases of Norway, France and the United Kingdom. Nation building is seen not merely as a top-down process, but rather one that includes negotiations of the nation from multiple actors in different positions of power, in everyday life, the media, as well as state actors.

At the final conference NATION researchers will present insights from our data and analysis on negotiating the nation, drawing on top-down as well as bottom-up perspectives, honing in on the role of the media, providing international comparative perspectives, and foregrounding the roles of religion and religious diversity. The presentations will also address the project's research questions, from their contrasting vantage points, reflecting on the boundaries of the nation, as these are produced and reproduced, in more or less conscious and explicit ways.

Nationalism, Populism and the Everyday Nation in Europe Today

Breakfast Seminar

Tue, 21 Nov 2017 08:15-10:00 - PRIO, Hausmanns gate 3, Oslo

Nationalism and the political salience of national identities are on the rise in contemporary Europe and beyond. This rise is often associated with populist movements. These include populist political parties, several in position across Europe today, whose politics are characterized by isolationism and anti-immigration stances, and right-wing populist groups, characterized by xenophobia, sometimes overt racism and anti-Semitism. Meanwhile, mobilizations of the idea of "nation" need not only be analysed as causally connected with populism, but also with the way the nation is (re)produced and enacted in people's everyday lives. In fact, there is a critical need to engage with the national from contrasting vantage points, in order to unravel the roles which the nation as a shared fate community continues to play in today’s globalised world.

During this breakfast seminar, we will hone in on nationalism, populism and the everyday nation in Europe today. Our panelists will draw on examples from France, the UK, the case of Basque nationalism, Norway, and the broader European context, to discuss the interplay of nationalism, populism and the everyday nation.