With Russia`s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the bilateral relationship between Norway and Russia reached a new low. Russia is increasingly described as an existential threat. To protect Norwegian national security, sanctions were imposed, cooperation halted, and surveillance capacities strengthened. These measures significantly affected the Norwegian border community of ...

In the southernmost part of Japan, only 750 kilometres away from Taiwan, Okinawa Island holds approximately 70% of the U.S. military installations in Japan. Okinawans’ antipathy towards the U.S. military bases that have continued to exist from the end of WW2 to the present day, as well as base-related incidents and accidents, continue to be serious problems in the region, even more than 50 years ...

The Uyghurs, who are one of the 55 minority groups of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), have for decades experienced strict policies in the region of Xinjiang, in which they are the majority pop- ulation. These policies have focused heavily on encouraged migration of the Chinese ethnic majority, the Han, to Xinjiang where the percentage of the Han in the region rose from 6.2% in 1945 to 39.2% ...

The Norwegian model of criminal justice— a facet of the Scandinavian paradigm of alleged exceptionalism, is one of the unique attributes of this Nordic approach to social welfare, with a focus on aspects of normalization and rehabilitation as apparent fundamental principles and guiding philosophies. This study walks the reader through an outsider’s exploration of a case study in Norway, on the premise ...

The Indigenous San in Botswana, frequently encounter development projects aiming to alleviate socio-economic disparities, often through a conservation-focused framework called Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM). However, this framework imposes Western notions of conservation and governance, thereby neglecting the Indigenous knowledge system of the San and their traditional conservation ...

This thesis examines the consultation process between the Sámediggi and the Norwegian government regarding the Education Act approved in 2023, adopting the Sámediggi’s perspective. Consultations are a central mechanism in international law for Indigenous peoples to influence decision-making processes and outcomes on matters that may affect their interests and cultures. However, there is a gap between ...

How can lobbying and influence be useful not only for those who already are powerful, but also for the empowerment of the disempowered? Thus, how may we democratise control over the means of rhetorical power? An answer may be found in rare cases of social movement communication impacting constitutional reform, such as the Alta Dam Conflict, 1970–1982, from an area where the Norwegian state ...

Objective: Both chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and opioids cause altered blood levels of cytokines. Previous studies have investigated levels of selected groups of cytokines in patients on opioid maintenance treatment. Little is known about the levels of multiple cytokines in patients with chronic HCV infection on opioid maintenance treatment. Our aim was to investigate the cytokine profile ...

Medieval Iberia witnessed the complex negotiation of religious, social, and economic identities, including the formation of religious orders that played a major role in border disputes and conflicts. While archival records provide insights into the compositions of these orders, there have been few direct dietary or osteoarchaeological studies to date. Here, we analysed 25 individuals discovered at ...