Norway's Peace Policy ― Soft Power in a Turbulent World

With its multiple power centers and ongoing chronic issues, the post-Cold War world allows space for less powerful states to develop influential roles in responding to specific problems. Norway, for example, has focused its available capabilities and resources on the persistent issue of violent ethno-political conflict. This book explains why Norway chose its peace policy and demonstrates what a far-away country with a small population has been able to achieve as peacemaker and a peacebuilder. As a niche state, Norway has relied on political and economic rather than military strategies. It has also selected its locations for engagement based on assessments of the possibility that Norwegians will be able to assist local people to make progress toward peace. The book provides an analysis of Norway's identity, agency, and domestic policy-making structure, as well as of criticisms that have surfaced within Norway. It includes case studies of peacemaking attempts in Sudan and Sri Lanka and of a peacebuilding project in Macedonia.

Ann Kelleher is Senior Research Writer and Educator at The Junction in Derry/Londonderry, Northern Ireland. She retired as Executive Director of the Center for Global Engagement at Gonzaga University, USA, in 2013. Prior to her position at Gonzaga, she was Professor of Political Science at Pacific Lutheran University. Her research, writing, and teaching focuses on peace, development, and international issues as subfields of international relations.

James Larry Taulbee is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Emory University, USA. His written work has focused on international security, mercenaries and private military companies, human rights and peace-making, the ad hoc international criminal courts, issues in American foreign policy, and the politics of international law. He is currently working on a two-book project on war crimes and genocide. He is the author of International Crime and Punishment (2009), and co-author of Law Among Nations (10th, ed., 2012)

Peter Grosvenor is Associate Professor of Sociology and Global Studies at Pacific Lutheran University, USA. He teaches classes in Scandinavian Government and Politics and is a member of the Scandinavian Area Studies Committee. His other teaching interests include the sociology of national identity and the politics of national self-determination. He is currently co-authoring a book on the role of national libraries in national identity formation.