Comment archive

Monday, 14 Sept 2026
China isn’t winning the digital order – yet

In Southeast Asia, Beijing is building the digital infrastructure, but not (yet) writing the rules.

Wednesday, 17 Jun 2026
AI is neither the autocrat’s silver bullet nor democracy’s death sentence

AI does not map neatly onto a spectrum running from democratic vulnerability to authoritarian advantage.

Wednesday, 8 Apr 2026
It’s time for academics to take community action on AI

The situation is critical – Academic publishing urgently needs life support.

Tuesday, 16 Dec 2025
Where is civilian drone research going?

The future of civilian drones is not predetermined. It will emerge through dialogue among researchers, regulators, industry, security actors and civil society.

Monday, 24 Nov 2025
Aeropeace in airspace: from defensive measures to positive peace

Peace can no longer be imagined without a peaceful sky – without ‘Aeropeace’ – but what does that entail?

Thursday, 23 Oct 2025
What do the recent drone sightings in Denmark and Norway mean?

The intensity of the response to the recent airport shutdowns of Oslo’s and Copenhagen’s main airports was unprecedented.

Tuesday, 16 Sept 2025
Moscow downplays drone incursion on Poland

The incursion of at least 19 Russian drones into Polish airspace on September 9–10 produced plenty of shock but hardly any awe.

Tuesday, 2 Sept 2025
Carving out space for peace – in space

Fifty years ago, two spacecraft met in space as part of a unique mission: After nearly two decades of intense space rivalry, the Soviet Union and the USA joined forces. We have much to learn from that landmark event today.

Saturday, 21 Jun 2025
På rett kurs

Norske fregatter i Stillehavet er ingen avsporing, men en framtidsrettet norsk sikkerhetspolitikk.

Tuesday, 13 May 2025
Defense Procurement and Democratic Debate: From Depoliticization to Repoliticization

Public deliberation on defense procurement could have focused on regulations, reform, or corruption. It has not.

Tuesday, 13 May 2025
Why Would Humans Do Anything Boring, Difficult or Dangerous in Star Wars? Science Fiction’s Reluctance to Embrace Its Own Technology.

This blog post contains spoilers for the first series in Andor, and other science fiction shows.

Friday, 28 Feb 2025
Contesting the AI-Cybersecurity Nexus: Lessons Learned from the United Kingdom

In an age where so-called artificial intelligence (AI) seems to revolutionise every corner of our lives, it’s no surprise that its intersection with cybersecurity has become a major focus for governments worldwide. Where cybersecurity and AI were previously seen as separate entities, they are increasingly merging together in policy discourse. ...

Friday, 10 Jan 2025
This Is What Norwegians Think About Emergency Alerts on Mobile Phones

The mobile phone has become an indispensable part of our daily lives. We carry it with us everywhere, and it’s a crisis when it’s lost. Now it has also taken on a new role: alerting us to emergencies. On Wednesday, January 8, emergency alerts on mobile phones were tested across ...

Tuesday, 9 Apr 2024
The AI Dilemma: Can Artificial Images of War and Suffering Stir Empathy?

Maria Gabrielsen Jumbert explores the pitfalls and potentials of the use of AI to provide windows into humanitarian crises and human rights abuses. AI-generated images have already been used by charities and human rights organizations to illustrate mass suffering and abuse. A lot is potentially at stake as we become ...

Tuesday, 19 Dec 2023
Optics as Politics: Culture, Language and Learning with UiO ChatGPT

Discussing the case of the University of Oslo ChatGPT and the plight of Palestinians, this blog calls for educators and researchers in peace and conflict studies, to consider the communicative politics of generative AI in their work. Introduction The adoption and adaptation of generative AI in higher education raises important ...

Friday, 1 Sept 2023
Ungovernable or Humanitarian Experimentation? Generative AI as an Accountability Issue

Kristin Bergtora Sandvik and Kristoffer Lidén discuss the type of accountability challenges generative AI, such as Chat GPT, represents for humanitarian governance. A need to recalibrate humanitarian accountability discussions In the summer of 2023, as the UN convened to discuss generative AI, there were calls for an ethical and responsible governance framework ...

Friday, 25 Aug 2023
China’s Digital Silk Road and Malaysia’s Technological Neutrality

Like other nations in Asia and Africa, Malaysia has shown considerable agency in navigating the tech war between the United States and China. The ongoing tech war between the United States and China is increasingly driven by ideological, normative, and political tensions. The development of 5G technologies and the strategic ...

Wednesday, 23 Aug 2023
Oppenheimer, Ukraine and Cluster Bombs

In desperate situations, it is essential that ethics are not sacrificed, as happened in practice in Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. At the cinema, currently we can follow the United States’ development of the atom bomb, headed by the physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer. At the same time, Nazi Germany was ...

Wednesday, 9 Aug 2023
Hallucinations and Existential Threats — Yet More Power to AI

Every so often, we observe debates around the threats of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Not least from fictional movies and some skeptics. But this debate around promises and perils of AI has, as of late, taken a pivotal turn — with the emergence of AI chatbots such as Chat GPT or ...

Tuesday, 1 Aug 2023
Taking Stock: Generative AI, Humanitarian Action, and the Aid Worker

Kristin Bergtora Sandvik discusses the broader implications of evolving AI for humanitarian action, aid work, and aid workers. Generative AI: From same, same but different to different In the summer of 2023, the UN declared that the International Community Must Urgently Confront New Reality of Generative, Artificial Intelligence. The emergence of generative ...

Friday, 14 Jul 2023
AI in Aid: Framing Conversations on Humanitarian Policy

Kristin Bergtora Sandvik and Maria Gabrielsen Jumbert identify a problematic lack of engagement with AI in the humanitarian strategies of donor countries and offer a set of pointers for framing conversations on AI in aid policy. At present, no major donor country engages extensively with artificial intelligence in their humanitarian ...

Friday, 17 Feb 2023
Towards a Chip-Alliance?

Long-lasting trilateral negotiations between the US, the Netherlands and Japan are expected to result in joint efforts to limit China’s domestic production of chips. The decision represents a symbolic win for the Biden Administration, but further negotiations will determine the scope and significance of the emerging “Chip-Alliance”. On January 27th, ...

Monday, 13 Feb 2023
Book Review: On Posthuman War: Computation and Military Violence

by Mike Hill 2022. London: University of Minnesota Press. 237pp. ISBN: 978-0-8166-6090-2. In the past two decades, talks about ‘everywhere’ and ‘endless’ wars have become familiar refrains among scholars of critical security studies. Whether as a strategic consequence of the use of new weapons and media or as part of ...

Tuesday, 20 Dec 2022
50 Years Hence: Can the Apollo Missions Inspire Us Today?

Last week, 50 years ago, Apollo 17’s lunar module left the moon. Since then, no one has set foot there. Let us pause for a moment to think about the signficance of that rather unique adventure called Apollo. The Apollo program defies belief. At a time when much of modern ...

Wednesday, 26 Oct 2022
The US Declares Chip-War on China

The United States recently announced a new set of restrictions on the export of advanced semiconductors, chip-making equipment, and supercomputer components to China. The interim final rule further escalates the geopolitical dispute between the US and China and raises concerns about the increasing fragmentation of the digital domain. The interim ...

Sunday, 23 Oct 2022
Drones over Norway: A Security and Regulatory Analysis

Over the last five weeks, numerous incidents involving drones have made headlines in Norway. These incidents include multiple drone sightings outside oil platforms and energy installations, drone incursions in the vicinity of airports leading to the temporary closure of some of them, and Russian citizens being arrested at Norwegian border ...

Monday, 5 Sept 2022
Norway and the Geopolitics of Battery Minerals

Batteries are as essential to the “green” energy transition as wind parks, solar power, and electric cars. These green energy technologies all require vast amounts of minerals. Norway has the potential to be an important new supplier of batteries, but it has been surprisingly silent on the issue – until ...

Tuesday, 30 Aug 2022
Is Digital Peace Mediation Here to Stay?

International peace mediation has undergone many changes in the past decade. While its fundamental principles have remained the same, the increased digitalization of peace mediation coupled with the practical challenges of peacebuilding during a global pandemic has necessitated the introduction of digital tools and virtual platforms. These developments have accelerated ...

Sunday, 29 May 2022
Telenor’s Exit from Myanmar: An External Review Is Needed

Telenor’s sale of its Myanmar venture has been completed. Its new majority owner is Myanmar’s Shwe Byain Phyu group, which is mainly known for its petroleum trade. On 11 May, in their reports to Telenor’s Annual General Meeting, Chair of the Telenor Board Gunn Wærsted and CEO Sigve Brekke spoke at length about the extremely difficult situation Telenor ...

Wednesday, 11 May 2022
Drones in the Ukraine War: An Initial Strategic and Sociological Assessment

Drones have played a very important, multidimensional role since the beginning of the current iteration of the war in Ukraine. This importance mirrors what happens in modern conflict all over the world: both in more conventional conflict and in other insurgency / counter-insurgency settings, drones have become a central part ...