Violent Organizations

The Sahel region is increasingly affected by transnational security threats which spill across national borders, such as insurgency, terror attacks, uncontrolled migration and illicit trafficking in commodities. A key reason for the persistence of those threats is the poor performance of the region’s security forces.

​December 5-7, PRIO hosted a workshop titled ‘Security Force Assistance in Fragile States’. Involving 30 leading academics and practitioners from around the world, the workshop provided fruitful and stimulating discussions and will stimulate future research agendas.

As part of the workshop, PRIO arranged an open seminar at Litteraturhuset on Wednesday 5 December titled ‘Military Capacity Building as a “One Size Fits All” Solution to Norway and NATO’s Security Challenges in Fragile States’. The seminar was chaired by PRIO senior researcher Øystein H. Rolandsen, and the panel consisted of: Michael Miklaucic, of the US National Defense University and editor of PRISM journal; Ruth Hanau Santini professor at the Università Orientale (Naples); Emily Knowles, director of the Remote Warfare Programme at the Oxford Research Group; and PRIO research professor Kristian Berg Harpviken. Henrik Urdal opened the seminar and welcomed the audience and participants.

Lit hus panel 2 sfa.jpg

Photo: Indigo Trigg-Hauger / PRIO

Marianne Dahl successfully defended her doctoral thesis today, 30 March, at the Faculty of Social and Educational Sciences - NTNU. The title of her thesis is "Pockets of Opportunity: State Dissident Interactions and Regime Change".

Her trial lecture: "What role does social mobilisation play for regime stability and transition, particularly considering the broader social mobilisation literature?"

​​Gleditsch becomes the first Norwegian to receive the Anne-Lise Meier Forschungspreis from the Alexander Humboldt Foundation.