Home  About FNI  Research  Publications  Staff  News & events  Contact		FNI NEWS Svein Vigeland Rottem Obtains PhD Degree on Norway's Changing Defence Policies (20.03.2009) Svein Vigeland Rottem has today succesfully defended his PhD dissertation where he has analyzed the justifications of Norway's changing defence and security policies in the period 1999-2006. In the last decade, the international threat picture has become increasingly fragmented and complex while Norway's great neighbour Russia again has become more assertive. What is the role of the Norwegian defence in face of these new realities? How is the changing role legitimized? The dissertation is mainly empirically based, and seeks to understand Norwegian defence and security policies in the period 1999-2006. This was a period when the Norwegian defence was re-dimensioned for a new reality and where we witnessed its transformation from a mobilization-based defence into a relatively proactive Norwegian military. The dissertation analyzes three overarching approaches to recent Norwegian defence and security policies:   Defence of ideals.   (NATO) alliance obligations.   Defence of territorial sovereignty and sovereign rights. A key insight is that state security remains the backbone of the justification of the Norwegian defence. In the dissertation, Dr. Rottem argues that re-emergence of the High North in Norwegian security policies underlines that state security still is the central concept when Norwegian security policy is to be justified. Dr. Rottem is a Senior Research Fellow at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute, where he has worked since 2006. His PhD dissertation – Hva forsvarer Norge? Det norske forsvarets møte med ny virkelighet ('What is Norway Defending? The Norwegian Defence's Encounter With a New Reality') – was submitted to the Department of Political Science at the University of Tromsø in June 2008. Dr. Rottem's supervisor was Professor Alf Håkon Hoel (Department of Political Science, University of Tromsø). Share: Further information:   Svein Vigeland Rottem's homepage   PhD dissertation summary (in Norwegian) Top		The Fridtjof Nansen Institute (FNI) is an independent foundation engaged in research on international environmental, energy, and resource management politics. The Institute maintains a multi-disciplinary approach, with main emphasis on political science, economics, and international law.
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