The World Stage

Is the BRICS a geopolitical competitor to the West? In this episode of the NUPI podcast The World Stage, Thor Olav Iversen (NUPI), Cedric de Coning (NUPI) and Benedicte Bull (UiO) reflect on the driver and consequences of the expansion of the BRICS group of countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) to also include Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt, Argentine and the UAE. What is the core project of the BRICS? Does this extremely diverse group of countries really have anything in common? Are we seeing a global resurgence of the Cold War non-alignment movement? These questions and more are discussed by the researchers who together cover a vast geopolitical space and some of the most pertinent questions of our time.

How should we regulate AI? How will AI impact the power balance between the US and China? And how does Microsoft navigate this complex landscape? In this episode, Brad Smith, Vice Chair and President of Microsoft, shares his unique insights on these questions and more. He is joined by CEO of NBIM (Norges Bank Investment Management) Nicolay Tangen and NUPI Director Ulf Sverdrup. This episode is released in collaboration with NBIM Podcast 'In Good Company': https://www.nbim.no/no/publikasjoner/podkast-in-good-company/

What issues are likely to be covered in the Agenda for Peace? Why is it important? UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, has called for a ‘New Agenda for Peace’ that can help the United Nations and international community address the many complex challenges the world faces today.  In this edition of the World Stage podcast, NUPI’s Cedric de Coning is in conversation with Asif Khan, the Director of the Policy and Mediation Division of the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs of the United Nations.The ‘old’ Agenda for Peace refers to a policy document that was first released by UN Secretary-General Boutrous Boutrous Ghali in 1992. It was a landmark policy document that framed the UN’s peace and security’s theory of change around preventive diplomacy, peacekeeping and peacebuilding.This podcast considers the main issues that the New Agenda for Peace needs is likely to address, including new issues like the climate-peace nexus, and the risks and opportunities that new technologies like Artificial Intelligence may pose for international peace and security.

Visiting prisoners, assisting lost travellers and distressed expats. Consular work is often considered the ugly duckling of the foreign services, far away from the negotiating tables and corridors of power. Still, the duties of the consuls also include dramatic crises evacuations, such as the recent dramatic extractions of diplomats and foreign nationals from Sudan. Ian Kemish has a rich career in the the Australian Foreign Service, including as head of the consular service. His experiences from the diplomatic frontline have resulted in the book ‘The Consul’. In this episode of The World Stage, Ian Kemish and NUPI’s Halvard Leira unpack the many-faceted and increasingly important role of consular work.

UN peace operations are overwhelmingly deployed within societies fractured by civil war. To understand why the UN has encountered difficulties, operational and political, in these settings, one must understand the political economy of civil war.These informal networks of power and their consequences for efforts to end wars and build lasting peace, are examined this episode of The World Stage.Professors Mats Berdal (King’s College London), Jana Krause (University of Oslo), and Cedric de Coning (NUPI) discuss how the power structures and conflict dynamics generated by these political economies interact with the UN missions themselves.

What are the reasons behind the limited impact of violent extremism and the Islamic State in the Kurdistan region of Iraq? In this episode of the NUPI podcast The World Stage, Dlawer Ala’Aldeen (Middle East Research Institute), Juline Beaujouan (University of Edinbrugh & Open Think Tank) and Morten Bøås (NUPI) are standing at the top of the citadel of Erbil in the Kurdistan region of Iraq to discuss this topic.This podcast is part of the PREVEX project. The project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 870724.

How do you find missing persons in the midst of war? Kathryne Bomberger, Director-General of the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), explains how her organisation investigate cases, search for, and identify missing persons in wartime Ukraine. The conversation is hosted by NUPI researcher Tora Berge Naterstad.

Climate security was one of Norway’s priority areas during its period as an elected member of the UN Security Council (2021–2022). What did Norway achieve? Hans Olav Ibrekk, Norway’s Special Envoy for Climate, Peace and Security, and Florian Krampe, director of the Climate Change and Risk Programme at SIPRI, take stock on Norway’s effort and lessons learned for others that will be working on this agenda in the future. Cedric de Coning, Research Professor at NUPI, is hosting the conversation.

Was there ever a deal to be had with Putin before the war? Is Russia mainly motivated by domestic or foreign policy considerations? And is there anything Western leaders can do to win hearts and minds in Russia? In this episode of The World Stage, Kadri Liik, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, and Julie Wilhelmsen, research professor at NUPI, discuss Russia-West relations before, in and after the war in Ukraine.