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STV9210 - NATO: Political Processes and International Role

Course content

NB! This semester's course is cancelled

The academic study of NATO represents possibilities and challenges for historians, political scientists and IR-scholars. The history of NATO allows for both analyses of change over time and in-depth case-studies, and NATO is the only international organization where alliance theories can be probed along with the whole theoretical literature in IR. Nevertheless, the academic study of NATO is relatively scant. In this course, we aim to introduce the participants to the existing body of scholarly work on NATO as an alliance and an international organization, as well as on political processes within NATO. The dynamics between NATO as a political organization and a military alliance is a subject of particular interest. However, the main focus of the course, especially the seminars, will be how to conduct scholarly work on NATO, in other words issues of methodology and research design.

The course is organized by the research program NATO in a changing world – carried out in cooperation between the Institute of Political Science at the University of Oslo and the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies at the Norwegian Defence University College. In addition to lecturers from these institutions, renowned international NATO scholars will appear as guest lecturers.

Learning outcomes

The subjects addressed during the course will be covered both through lectures and seminars. The recommended literature is to be regarded as background literature, useful in building up an understanding of the overall content of the course. The required literature, approximately 1000 pages, will be discussed explicitly in the seminars (see the schedule for detailed information). We expect participants to have read the required literature before the start of the course. Discussions during the seminars will revolve around issues such as research design, epistemological and ontological approaches to studying NATO, how to find and use relevant sources, and similar.

Three questions will be of central importance when discussing the texts:

1) What is the research problem and how well is it formulated?
2) How is the research problem converted into a research design/strategy, and how well-founded is the research design (are there, for example, alternative designs and why so)?
3) How rigorous are the results as regards validity, reliability, and alternative interpretations?

Admission

The course is open to applicants who are in the course of (or who have been admitted to) PhD-programs within relevant fields. The course will also be open to selected and invited specialists and practitioners who are not in a PhD study program, both as participants and lecturers.

Applying early is to your advantage. If you are prevented from attending the course, please let us know so that another applicant can take your place.

Application deadline: 3 May 2012
Limitation: 20 participants

Link to application form

Prerequisites

Formal prerequisites

Only access for Ph.D.students and invited participants.

Teaching

Alyson Bailes is Visiting Professor at the University of Iceland in Reykjavik, teaching on general security topics and on Nordic and European security. From July 2002–August 2007 she was Director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), and before that she was a British diplomat.

Helge Danielsen is Associate Professor of History at the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies (IFS), and has participated in the Research Program NATO in a changing world since its initiation in 2008/09. His fields of interest include Trans-Atlantic relations and Alliance politics during the Cold War. Before joining the IFS, Danielsen was a Post-doctoral Fellow at the Forum for Contemporary History, University of Oslo.

Jo G. Gade is Special Adviser at the Norwegian Defence University College/Institute for Defence Studies. He is a retired Rear Admiral who has been dealing with defence- and security policy issues over the last 20 years, including 9 years in NATO. From Jul 2008 to Nov 2011 he was the Director Plans & Policy Division and the Deputy Director General of the International Military Staff at the NATO Headquarters in Brussels.

Dr Ellen Hallams is a lecturer in Defence Studies at King’s College, London, based at the Joint Services Command and Staff College of the UK Defence Academy. From April-June 2011 she will be a Research Associate at the Norwegian Defense Institute in Oslo. Her most recent book is The Transatlantic Alliance Renewed: The US & NATO Since 9/11 (Routledge, 2010). Peer-reviewed articles include ‘NATO at 60: Going Global?’ International Journal, Vol. 64, No. 2, Spring 2009, pp. 423-450; ‘From Crusader to Exemplar: Bush, Obama and the Reinvigoration of America’s Soft Power’, European Journal of American Studies, [Online] , 1: 2011, http://ejas.revues.org/9157; ‘Towards a Post-American Alliance? NATO Burden-Sharing After Libya,’ (with Benjamin Scheer) International Affairs 88: 2 (2012), pp. 313–327. She is currently co-editing a book reflecting on the significance of 9/11 for NATO (forthcoming Palgrave Macmillan, 2013) and is also working on a US Army War College funded project entitled Forging A New Transatlantic Bargain? US leadership of the Atlantic Alliance during the Obama Presidency.

Paal Sigurd Hilde is Associate Professor and head of the Section for Norwegian security policy at the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies, Norwe¬gian Defence University College. His main research interests include Norwegian security and defence policy and NATO. Prior to joining IFS in 2008, Dr Hilde was a senior adviser in the Department for Security Policy, Norwegian Ministry of Defence (2004–2008), when he also served as a secretary for the Norwegian Defence Policy Commission (2006–2007). Hilde finished his DPhil at the University of Oxford (St. Antony's College) in 2003. He is part of the research programme “NATO in a Changing World”, where he works mainly on Norwegian NATO policy and the evolution of the NATO Command Structure.

Janne Haaland Matlary is Professor of Political Science at the University of Oslo and at the Norwegian Defence University College. She was State Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Norway 1997–2000. Her main fields are NATO, the European Union as a political system, its foreign and security policy

Michael Mayer is a Research Fellow at the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies (since 2006), and submitted his doctoral dissertation entitled "Behind the Shield: The Strategy of US Ballistic Missile Defense" in December 2011. Mayer specializes in US defense and security policy and has published on such topics as US grand strategy, US security policy in Central Asia, and the strategic implications of global climate change.

Tentative programme

Literature

All the lectures and seminars will be held at the Department of Political Science, 8th floor, Eilert Sundts hus, University of Oslo (Room 830)

Exam information

Active participation in seminar discussions and completion of an analytical essay (7,500–10,000 words), either a review on a topic that is consistent with the course’s purpose or a draft research design for a PhD project, is required to pass the course. The essays shall be sent to Janne Haaland Matlary and Helge Danielsen no later than September 1st, 2012.

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