Kristoffer Lidén

Senior Researcher

Kristoffer Lidén
Additional position(s):
Health and Safety Representative (Verneombud)

Email: kristoffer@prio.org
Work phone: (+47) 22 54 77 37
Mobile phone: (+47) 90 11 24 93

Research Interests

Kristoffer Lidén is a Senior researcher at PRIO. He was the coordinator of the UiO-NTNU-PRIO Research School on Peace and Conflict (2011-2017) and heads the PRIO Research Group on Humanitarianism, and Law and Ethics. His research and publications centre on the ethics of international affairs, with a focus on the fields of security, humanitarianism and peacebuilding. Lidén has co-initiated, coordinated and worked on several NRC, Nordforsk and EU funded projects, including Liberal Peace and the Ethics of Peacebuilding; Protection of Civilians: from principle to practice; and CORE: Cultures of governance and conflict resolution in Europe and India. He was recently responsible for work packages on ethics, law and human rights in SOURCE: Virtual Centre of Excellence on Societal Security in Europe and NordSTEVA: Nordic Centre of Excellence on Security Technology and Societal Values. Lidén holds a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Oslo with a dissertation on 'the ethics of liberal peacebuilding and the philosophy of global governance'. He has also studied Sociology and Anthropology, and a MA in Peace and Conflict Studies.                                                                                                   

 

Topics:

  • Global governance
  • Peacebuilding
  • Humanitarian action
  • Societal Security
  • Security technology
  • Peace in international law

Disciplines:

  • Social and Political Philosophy
  • Ethics
  • International Relations
  • Sociology
  • Social Anthropology
  • Peace and Conflict Studies

 

Background

​​Working Experience:

2014-: Senior Researcher, PRIO.

2019-: Deputy Director, Norwegian Centre for Humanitarian Studies (NCHS)

2018: Acting Research Director, Dimensions of Security Department, PRIO.

2018: Acting Director, Norwegian Centre for Humanitarian Studies.

2011-2017: Coordinator, Research School on Peace and Conflict, PRIO.

2007-2014: Researcher, PhD Candidate, PRIO. 

2006-07: Coordinator and lecturer, Peace and Conflict Studies in Puducherry, India.

2006: Young Researcher at the Universities of Saarbrücken, Germany and Tilburg, Holland, as part of the EU funded project Applied Global Justice.

2004-05: MA stipend at PRIO.

2002-03: CO as research assistant at PRIO, Ethics, Norms and Identities programme.

Education:

2014: PhD in Philosophy, University of Oslo. Member of the Research School of The Ethics Programme, University of Oslo.  

2006: European Research Training Network, Applied Global Justice, University of Saarbrücken, Germany, and University of Tilburg, Netherlands.

2005: MA in Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Oslo. Philosophy specialisation.

2003: Major module in Philosophy, graduate level, University of Oslo. Thesis on 'Spinoza's Ethics of War and Peace.'

2002 Cand. mag. with the subjects Philosophy, Sociology and Anthropology at the universities of Oslo and Bergen.

Research Groups

Full member:
Associated member:

PRIO Departments

Current
Historical

PRIO Projects

Ongoing:
Finished:

Events

PRIO started tracking events online in 2007. This listing is not complete. Past events may be mentioned in our news archive.

Recent Publications

Lidén, Kristoffer & Kristina Roepstorff (2020) Red Lines and Grey Zones: Ethical dilemmas in humanitarian negotiations and the need for a research agenda, Norwegian Centre for Humanitarian Studies Blog, 2 October.

All Publications

Peer-reviewed Journal Article

Leese, Matthias; Kristoffer Lidén & Blagovesta Nikolova (2019) Putting critique to work: Ethics in EU security research, Security Dialogue 50(1): 59–76.
Lidén, Kristoffer (2019) The Protection of Civilians and ethics of humanitarian governance: beyond intervention and resilience, Disasters 43(52): 210–229.
Lidén, Kristoffer (2018) A war on values? On the politics of countering the values of violent extremism, Security, Society and Technology (pilot journal issue) 1(1): 18–37.
Lidén, Kristoffer; Nona Mikhelidze; Elena B. Stavrevska & Birte Vogel (2016) EU support to civil society organizations in conflict-ridden countries: A governance perspective from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus and Georgia, International Peacekeeping 23(2): 274–301.
Liden, Kristoffer (2013) In love with a lie? On the social and political preconditions for global peacebuilding governance, Peacebuilding 1(1): 73–90.
Miklian, Jason; Kristoffer Lidén & Åshild Kolås (2011) The Perils of ‘Going Local’: Liberal Peace-building Agendas in Nepal, Conflict, Security & Development 11(3): 285–308.
Lidén, Kristoffer; Roger Mac Ginty & Oliver P. Richmond (2009) Introduction: Beyond Northern Epistemologies of Peace: Peacebuilding Reconstructed?, International Peacekeeping 16(5): 587–598.
Lidén, Kristoffer (2009) Building Peace between Global and Local Politics: On the Cosmopolitical Ethics of Liberal Peacebuilding, International Peacekeeping 16(5): 616–634.

PhD Thesis

Lidén, Kristoffer (2014) Between Intervention and Sovereignty: Ethics of Liberal Peacebuilding and the Philosophy of Global Governance. PhD thesis, Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas, University of Oslo, Oslo.

Book Chapter

Lidén, Kristoffer (2020) Peace-building, in Antonio De Lauri, ed., Humanitarianism: Keywords. Leiden, Boston: Brill (154–156).
Lidén, Kristoffer (2020) Doctrine, in Antonio De Lauri, ed., Humanitarianism: Keywords. Leiden, Boston: Brill (49–51).
Lidén, Kristoffer (2020) Ethics, in Antonio De Lauri, ed., Humanitarianism: Keywords. Leiden, Boston: Brill (61–63).
Lidén, Kristoffer (2020) Universality, in Antonio De Lauri, ed., Humanitarianism: Keywords. Leiden, Boston: Brill (220–222).
Lidén, Kristoffer & Henrik Syse (2019) The Politics of Peace and Law: Realism, Internationalism and the Cosmopolitan Challenge (2nd ed), in Cecilia Bailliet, ed., Research Handbook on International Law and Peace. Northampton: Edward Elgar (30–50).
Lidén, Kristoffer & Elida K. U. Jacobsen (2016) The local is everywhere: a postcolonial reassessment of cultural sensitivity in conflict governance, in Burgess, J. Peter; Oliver P. Richmond; & Ranabir Samaddar, eds, Cultures of Governance and Peace: a Comparison of EU and Indian Theoretical and Policy Approaches. Manchester: Manchester University Press (132–149).
Lidén, Kristoffer & Kristin Bergtora Sandvik (2016) Poison Pill or Cure-All: Drones and the Protection of Civilians, in Sandvik, Kristin Bergtora; & Maria Gabrielsen Jumbert, eds, The Good Drone. London: Ashgate. London: Ashgate (65–88).
Lidén, Kristoffer (2016) The UN and International Ethics, in Jubilut, Liliana Lyra ; João Carlos Jarochinski Silva; & Larissa Ramina, eds, The UN at 70: contributions, challenges and perspectives [A ONU aos 70: contribuições, desafios e perspectivas]. Boa Vista: Editora da Universidade Federal de Roraima (144–171).
Lidén, Kristoffer & Henrik Syse (2015) The Politics of Peace and Law: Realism, Internationalism and the Cosmopolitan Challenge, in Larsen, Kjetil M. ; & Cecilia Bailliet, eds, Promoting Peace Through International Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press (21–42).
Jacobsen, Elida K. U. & Kristoffer Lidén (2012) Theoretical Challenges for Assessing Socio-Cultural Sensitivity in Governance and Conflict Resolution [15 May], in Galvanek, Janel B.; Hans J. Giessmann ; & Mir Mubashir, eds, Norms and Premises of Peace Governance. Socio-Cultural Commonalities and Differences in Europe and India. Berlin: Berghof Foundation (25–30).
Liden, Kristoffer(2011) Peace, Self-Governance and International Engagement: From Neo-Colonial to Post-Colonial Peacebuilding Rethinking the Liberal Peace: External Models and Local Alternatives. : (57–74).

Non-refereed Journal Article

Salter, Mark B.; Carol Cohn; Andrew Neal; Annick Wibben; J. Peter Burgess; Stephan Elbe; Jonathan Luke Austin; Jef Huysmans; RBJ Walker; Ole Wæver; Michael C. Williams; Emily Gilbert; Philippe Frowd; Dorthe Rosenow; Bruno Oliveira Martins; Vivienne Jabri; Claudia Aradau; Anna Leander; Antoine Bousquet; Anna Stavrianakis; Maria Stern; Kristin Bergtora Sandvik; Luis Lobo-Guerrero; Marieke De Goede; Rocco Bellanova; Hugh Gusterson; Charlotte Epstein; Jeniffer Mustapha; Kristoffer Lidén & Lene Hansen (2019) Horizon Scan: Critical security studies for the next 50 years, Security Dialogue 50(4): 9–37.

Popular Article

Lidén, Kristoffer & Kristina Roepstorff (2020) Red Lines and Grey Zones: Ethical dilemmas in humanitarian negotiations and the need for a research agenda, Norwegian Centre for Humanitarian Studies Blog, 2 October.
Lidén, Kristoffer (2020) Hva vi ikke har lært om liberal utenrikspolitikk [What we have not learned about liberal foreign policy], Morgenbladet, 9 January.
Lidén, Kristoffer (2016) Against the Merger of Humanitarianism with Development and Security, Norwegian Centre for Humanitarian Studies Blog, 31 May.
Lidén, Kristoffer (2014) Do they really care? Protection of Civilians and the Veto Powers, Norwegian Centre for Humanitarian Studies Blog, 18 November.
Lidén, Kristoffer (2009) The Problem of Culture, Forum for Peacebuilding Ethics, 1 November.
Lidén, Kristoffer (2008) En rettferdig kosmopolitikk [A Just Cosmopolitanism], Ny Tid, 17 October.

Master Thesis

Lidén, Kristoffer (2006) Whose Peace? Which Peace? On the Political Architecture of Liberal Peacebuilding. MA thesis, University of Oslo, Oslo.

Conference Paper

Lidén, Kristoffer (2018) Discussing the ethics of countering violent extremism, presented at Countering radicalisation: What can and cannot be done? At CEPS Ideas Lab 2018: "Europe - Back on Track", 22-23 February, Brussels, 23 February.
Lidén, Kristoffer (2018) Contested imaginations of peace: justice, truth and power in the ethics of peace agreements, presented at Peace Operations and Peace Agreements: Experiences from the Global South, PUC Rio, Brazil, 28 May.
Lidén, Kristoffer (2017) Oiling the machinery of the European security industry? The Ethics of Ethics in EU Security Research, presented at Trade, Commerce and Societal Values in the Digital Age: A European Perspective, Stockholm University, 16 March.
Lidén, Kristoffer (2017) Harmonising Security with Human Rights, presented at SOURCE Societal Security Conference - Global Threats, Local Actors, 21-22 March, Haus der Europäischen Union, Vienna, 22 March.
Lidén, Kristoffer (2017) The Ethics of Biometric Security Technologies, presented at SOURCE Societal Security Conference - Global Threats, Local Actors, 21-22 March, Haus der Europäischen Union, Vienna, 22 March.
Lidén, Kristoffer (2017) Power and Protection: Protection of Civilians and the Geopolitics of Norms at the UN Security Council, presented at BISA 42nd Annual Conference, Roundtable on R2P as a Norm, and its Implementation, Brighton, UK, 15 June.
Lidén, Kristoffer (2017) Ought human rights to be promoted through global governance in the name of peacebuilding?, presented at CRIC Seminar, Human Rights and Peacebuilding Project, University of Copenhagen, Department of Political Science, 28 August.
Lidén, Kristoffer (2017) Ethics and extremism: perceptions of the role of values in counter-radicalisation, presented at EISA YRW: Dissecting the radical: knowledge production and policy-making through the (de-)radicalisation prism, at 11th Pan-European Conference on International Relations, 12-16 September, Barcelona, Spain, 12 September.
Lidén, Kristoffer (2017) Security, critique and normative orders, presented at Contemporary conditions of critique: power, value(s), economy, PhD Course, Research School on Peace and Conflict, PRIO, Oslo, Norway, 22 September.
Lidén, Kristoffer (2017) Policing ideas: the counter-democratic effects of technologies for Countering Violent Extremism, presented at Rethinking the technology-security nexus in Europe. 1st INTERSECT workshop, 26-27 October, Malmö University, Malmö, Sweden, 27 October.
Lidén, Kristoffer (2017) The Politics of Public Risk Communication in Norway, presented at Studying Nordic Societal Security: Threat- or Risk-Based Discourses? 16-17 November, Graduate School of International Studies, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden, 17 November.
Lidén, Kristoffer (2017) Introduction to the ethics of humanitarian action, presented at Humanitarian Studies Colloquium: The Ethics of Humanitarian Action – rationale and critique of a do-gooder regime, PRIO, Oslo, 27 November.
Lidén, Kristoffer (2017) National Risk Assessments and the Politics of Public Risk Communication, presented at Communicating Risk in the Digital Age: Dilemmas and Opportunities Presented to Authorities and the Public, PRIO, Oslo, 6 December.
Lidén, Kristoffer (2017) Policing Ideas: the counter-democratic effects of technologies for countering violent extremism, presented at Many Faces of Political Violence and Societal Security, NordSTEVA Annual Conference, 7-8 December, University of Tampere, Finland, 7 December.
Lidén, Kristoffer (2016) The Ethics of the Protection of Civilians: Beyond Intervention and Resilience, presented at The World Conference on Humanitarian Studies, Addis Ababa, 5 March.
Lidén, Kristoffer (2015) Luhmann goes to Juba: a systems theoretical perspective on the postliberal condition, presented at Worlds of Violence: 9th Pan-European Conference on International Relations, European International Studies Association, Giardini Naxos, Sicily, Italy , 26 September 2015.
Lidén, Kristoffer (2015) Oiling the Machinery of European Security Technology? The role of ethics in EU Security Research, presented at International Studies Association, Annual Convention , New Orleans, 21 Februrary 2015.
Lidén, Kristoffer (2015) What ‘society’ must be defended? The ethics of societal security in Norway, presented at Worlds of Violence: 9th Pan-European Conference on International Relations, European International Studies Association, Giardini Naxos, Sicily, Italy , 26 September.
Lidén, Kristoffer; Nona Mikhelidze; Elena B. Stavrevska & Birte Vogel (2014) EU Support to Civil Society Organisations in Conflict-Ridden Countries: A Governance Perspective from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus and Georgia, presented at International Studies Association Annual Convention. Panel: ‘Spaces and Places of Reconstruction: Localized Peace and Civil Society’, Toronto, March 29.
Mikhelidze, Nona; Elena B. Stavrevska; Birte Vogel & Kristoffer Lidén (2013) EU Engagement with Civil Society Organisations in Conflict-Ridden Countries: A Governance Perspective from Georgia, Cyprus and Bosnia and Herzegovina, presented at Cultures of Governance and Conflict Resolution in Europe and India, Brussels, 3 December.
Jacobsen, Elida Kristine Undrum & Kristoffer Lidén (2013) Socio-Cultural Sensitivity in Conflict Governance: A Postcolonial Reassessment, presented at 54th International Studies Association Annual Convention, San Francisco, 03.04.13 – 06.04.13.
Lidén, Kristoffer 2012 Recipe for Disaster: Violent Rebellion and Humanitarian Intervention, presented at Humanitarianism: past, present, future, , 8–10 November 2012.
Lidén, Kristoffer 2012 In Love with a Lie? On the Political Preconditions for Global Peacebuilding Governance, presented at New Frontiers for Peacebuilding: Hybridity, Governance, and Local Agency, , 13–14 September 2012.
Jacobsen, Elida Kristine Undrum; & Lidén, Kristoffer 2011 Theoretical Challenges for Assessing Socio-Cultural Sensitivity in Conflict Governance, presented at CORE, , .
Lidén, Kristoffer 2010 Global Peace by Analogy: Introduction, presented at Global Peace by Analogy, , 19 November.
Lidén, Kristoffer 2010 In Love with a Lie? Peacebuilding Ethics and the Political Premises of Reforming the International Peacebuilding Regime, presented at Annual Convention of the International Studies Association, , 19 February.
Lidén, Kristoffer 2009 Sovereignty and the Ethics of Liberal Peacebuilding, presented at Liberal Peace and the Ethics of Peacebuilding: Themes, , 9 November.
Lidén, Kristoffer 2009 Peace, Self-Governance and International Engagement: A Postcolonial Ethic of Liberal Peacebuilding, presented at 50th Annual Convention of the International Studies Association, , 15–18 February.
Lidén, Kristoffer 2009 Can Sovereignty be Built through Intervention? A Post-Westphalian Sovereignty Principle for Global Governance, presented at 50th Annual Convention of the International Studies Association, , 15–18 February.
Lidén, Kristoffer 2008Introduction on the Ethics of Liberal Peacebuilding, presented at The Ethics of Liberal Peacebuilding and the Cyprus peace process12 November.
Lidén, Kristoffer 2008 Postcolonialism and the Ethics of Liberal Peacebuilding, presented at Liberal Peace and the Ethics of Peacebuilding: Cases, , 21/11/2008.
Lidén, Kristoffer (2008) A Postcolonial Ethic of Liberal PeacebuildingCERI Program for Peace and Human Security, Science Po, Paris, France, 16–17 June 2008.
Lidén, Kristoffer 2008 Peacebuilding and the social ontology of global politics, presented at Thinking With(Out) Borders: International Political Theory in the 21st Century, , 12–13 June 2008.
Lidén, Kristoffer (2007) The Ethics of Peacebuilding, presented at AJEI workshop on Conflict, Negotiation, Cooperation, India, 1 March.

PRIO Policy Brief

Lidén, Kristoffer (2017) National Risk Assessments and the Politics of Public Risk Communication, PRIO Policy Brief, 7. Oslo: PRIO.
Lidén, Kristoffer & Simon Reid-Henry (2016) What’s in It for Them? Why the Veto Powers All Support Protection of Civilians (And Why They Often Fail to Agree on It), PRIO Policy Brief, 10. Oslo: PRIO.

PRIO Paper

Boy, Nina; Elida K. U. Jacobsen & Kristoffer Lidén (2018) Societal Ethics of Biometric Technologies. 2nd edition, PRIO Paper. Oslo: PRIO.

Report - Other

Lidén, Kristoffer (2018) Norms and Ethics in Security Preparedness, SOURCE Societal Security Network. .
Lidén, Kristoffer (2018) Ethics and Extremism: Report on ethical and legal parameters for dealing with extremism, SOURCE Societal Security Network, 6. .
Lidén, Kristoffer (2017) Ethics Report 2, SOURCE Project, D1.6, SOURCE Societal Security Network. .
Boy, Nina; Elida K. U. Jacobsen; & Kristoffer Lidén (2016) Societal Ethics and Biometric Technologies, SOURCE Societal Security Network. Oslo: SOURCE.
Lidén, Kristoffer (2015) Ethics Report 1, SOURCE Deliverables, 2. SOURCE Virtual Centre of Excellence For Research Support and Coordination on Societal Security.
Lidén, Kristoffer; & Ben Hayes (2015) Report on human values in threat analysis, SOURCE Deliverables, 6. SOURCE Virtual centre of excellence for research support and coordination on societal security.
Jumbert, Maria Gabrielsen; & Lidén, Kristoffer (2012) International survey of relevant national, EU and intergovernmental security policies13.1. : Protection of European Borders and Seas Through the Intelligent Use of Surveillance (PERSEUS).

Book Review

Lidén, Kristoffer (2010) Review of Revision or Revolution? At the Crossroads of Peacebuilding Theory, in NOREF Book Review 1–3.

Blog Posts

Nordic Noir: National Risk Assessments in Times of Peace and Pandemics

Posted by Kristoffer Lidén on Wednesday, 17 February 2021

As a result of their criteria for what counts as risks, the national risk assessments of the Nordic countries currently resemble the crime genre of Nordic Noir, where the Nordic societies are rendered in a gloomy but revealing light. By zooming in on potential crises without placing these in a ... Read more »

National Risk Assessments: a political vaccine against the next disaster?

Posted by Kristoffer Lidén on Friday, 29 January 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the political potential of National Risk Assessments (NRAs). The consistent focus of European NRAs on the risk of pandemics while public attention was glued to terrorism demonstrates their relevance to the question of how to prevent and prepare for future disasters – be they natural or ... Read more »

Red Lines and Grey Zones: Ethical dilemmas in humanitarian negotiations and the need for a research agenda

Posted by Kristoffer Lidén & Kristina Roepstorff on Monday, 12 October 2020

When turning humanitarian principles into practice, humanitarian organisations are faced with a range of difficult ethical dilemmas. These dilemmas are rarely as tangible as when the organisations negotiate with local counterparts for access and programming in settings of armed conflict. This dimension of humanitarian negotiations remains to be systematically studied, ... Read more »

Korona og rettsstaten

Posted by Kristin B. Sandvik, Malcolm Langford & Kristoffer Lidén on Wednesday, 25 March 2020

Tirsdag 24. mars ble den nye koronaloven vedtatt av Stortinget. Dagen før arrangerte Juridisk fakultet og PRIO webinaret “Korona og rettsstaten: hva skal vi med fullmaktsloven”. Arrangementet gikk via Zoom og hadde 600 deltagere. En redigert versjon kan også sees på youtube. Webinaret – som i utgangspunktet skulle spisse kritikken ... Read more »

Against the Merger of Humanitarianism with Development and Security

Posted by Kristoffer Lidén on Wednesday, 8 June 2016

In the recent World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul 23-24 May, the interconnections between humanitarianism, development and security were highlighted. Recognising that humanitarian assistance alone cannot address ‘the needs of over 130 million of the world’s most vulnerable people’, the conference chair’s summary report states: ‘A new and coherent approach is ... Read more »

Why the Veto Powers All Support Protection of Civilians (And Why They Often Fail to Agree on It)

Posted by Simon Reid-Henry & Kristoffer Lidén on Wednesday, 4 May 2016

The Protection of Civilians (PoC) expands the responsibility of the UN Security Council (UNSC) for international peace and security to the internal affairs of conflict-ridden countries. As such, it bolsters the authority of the five permanent members (the P5) in world politics and presents them with a flexible tool for ... Read more »

Emergency Exit for the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict

Posted by Kristoffer Lidén on Friday, 10 April 2015

The tragedy in Syria bears witness to the deep crisis afflicting the international commitment to the “protection of civilians”. But there is a way out. Against the background of a politically divided Security Council, there is a need for a new international strategy to protect civilians caught up in armed ... Read more »

Do they Really Care? Protection of Civilians and the Veto Powers

Posted by Kristoffer Lidén on Monday, 8 December 2014

It was not until the advances of IS in Syria and Iraq turned into an international security threat that a military intervention was launched in September 2014. A horrendous civil war had then killed tens of thousands Syrian civilians and displaced millions without provoking any similar reaction. In this blog ... Read more »

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