Øystein H Rolandsen
Biographic Data
| ID | 89930 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Øystein H Rolandsen |
| GIVEN NAMES | Øystein H |
| FAMILY NAME | Rolandsen |
| SIGNATURE | ROLANDSEN Ø H |
| AFFILIATIONS | Peace Research Institute Oslo |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5298-9266 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 29 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 135 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 29 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2005 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Security Assistance and the Crisis of the Liberal International Order
The crisis of the Liberal International Order (LIO) has intensified amid growing great-power competition, the war in Ukraine, and the erosion of multilateral institutions. This Forum examines security assistance (SA)—the training, equipping and support of external security actors—as a critical lens for understanding how this crisis is unfolding and how international order is increasingly contested in practice. The Forum consists of an introductor…
Disposable rebels
During the Syrian War, the US and other Western countries trained, equipped and paid Syrian rebels to fight the government and, later, root out the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). When states use armed groups to attain foreign policy objectives, control is a key concern. The US sought to enforce such control over providers and recipients of lethal military assistance in the period from 2013–18. We investigate the parallel CIA and Dep…
Security Force Assistance to Fragile States
Security Force Assistance (SFA) – the training and equipping of a foreign security force – represent a common form of intervention into fragile states. This introduction assesses the state of the field of SFA research and focuses on dynamics specific to recipient states with fragmented security sectors. Based on insights from the contributions to the special issue we propose a framework for research which covers conceptualisation, implementation …
Fragmented We Fall
Security Force Assistance (SFA) is presented as a panacea for security threats and governance problems in the Global South. Using Mali as a point of departure, in this article we explore the complex reality of SFA in a state with a highly fragmented security sector. A plethora of SFA providers collectively leaves a negative impact on the cohesion of the recipient security forces. Multiple SFA providers and uncoordinated implementation muddle obje…
Prospects for peace and the UN Regional Protection Force in South Sudan
ON 7 July 2016, A DEADLY CLASH between the guards of the president and vice-president of South Sudan sparked days of skirmishes, purges, looting and abuse of civilians across the capital city of Juba. At least 300 people were killed, including 2 Chinese UN soldiers,1 as soldiers under President Salva Kiir's command used combat helicopters, tanks and other heavy weaponry in the city suburbs.2 Next to a UN peacekeeping base, soldiers raped civilian…
Who are the civilians in the wars of South Sudan
This longitudinal study explores the place of the civilian populations in the wars of what is now South Sudan. Using a broad range of empirical evidence, we trace the evolution of conflict practices and norms from the 1800s to today. Two main insights stand out: First, since the initial colonial incursions, local residents have been strategic assets to be managed and exploited, and thus populations are not just legitimate targets in conflicts but…
Food Aid in Sudan
Food Aid in Sudan: A History of Power, Politics and Profit." Forum for Development Studies, 47(1), pp. 205–206
The Nasty War
In 1963, unrest in Sudan's three southern provinces (today's South Sudan) escalated into a civil war between the government and the Anya-Nya rebellion. The subsequent eight years of violence has hitherto largely escaped scrutiny from academic researchers and has remained a subject of popular imagination and politicised narratives. This article demonstrates how this history can be explored with greater nuance, thereby establishing a local history …
Trade, peace-building and hybrid governance in the Sudan-South Sudan borderlands
Trade and markets in weak states are often discussed in relation with violence, security and peace-building. A case in point are marketplaces in the Sudan-South Sudan borderlands where communities separated by insecurity and hostility meet, not only to trade but also to negotiate and exchange information. This does not imply that establishment of such markets automatically results in peace and stability. Based on new empirical research on the Ami…
Civil War on a Shoestring
This article is a case study of armed opposition factions in the Central Equatoria region within South Sudan’s current civil war. Based on research in South Sudan and northern Uganda during the spring of 2017, the study focuses on the internal organisation, recruitment and funding processes, and political ideas of these organisations, engaging with recent theories concerning governance and civilians in rebel-controlled territories. It argues that…
A History of South Sudan
South Sudan is the world's youngest independent country. Established in 2011 after two wars, South Sudan has since reverted to a state of devastating civil strife. This book provides a general history of the new country, from the arrival of Turco-Egyptian explorers in Upper Nile, the turbulence of the Mahdist revolutionary period, the chaos of the 'Scramble for Africa', during which the South was prey to European and African adventurers and empir…
History of South Sudan
A year of South Sudan’s third civil war
The new civil war in South Sudan began in December 2013. It soon proved to be a disaster for the population, a threat to the integrity of the world’s youngest state and an embarrassment and conundrum to the international community. The article surveys the first year of this war. It outlines the course of military engagements, the consequences of the war for the people of South Sudan and the ways in which a peaceful settlement has been sought. Dur…
Small and Far Between
The massive expenditure on UN peacekeeping missions combined with a significant commitment of personnel and infrastructure creates 'peacekeeping economies' within host societies. We need to understand when and how peacekeeping economies are created and the kinds of factors that mitigate their occurrence, size and impact. Previous research indicates an overall tendency of UN missions to minimize involvement in host communities' economies, and cons…
Another civil war in South Sudan
Popular explanations for the outbreak of a new civil war in South Sudan have centred on ethnic factors and leadership personalities. This article demonstrates that the conflict is rooted in deep cleavages within the ruling political party, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM). When internal tensions came to a head in late 2013, a combination of neopatrimonial politics, a weak state structure and legacies of violence from the previous civ…
Discourses of violence in the transition from colonialism to independence in southern Sudan, 1955-1960
The Torit Mutiny of August 1955 in southern Sudan did not trigger a civil war, but state violence and disorder escalated over the following years. We explore how the outlook and strategies of the government officials who inherited the state apparatus of the Anglo-Egyptian condominium contributed to this development. They perpetuated authoritarian and violent government practices based on a legalistic distinction between citizen and outlaw, while …
Violence as politics in eastern Africa, 1940-1990
Over the 50 years between 1940 and 1990, the countries of eastern Africa were embroiled in a range of debilitating and destructive conflicts, starting with the wars of independence, but then incorporating rebellion, secession and local insurrection as the Cold War replaced colonialism. The articles gathered here illustrate how significant, widespread and dramatic this violence was. In these years, violence was used as a principal instrument in th…
Too Much Water under the Bridge
National borders in Africa are often presented as arbitrary and problematic impositions of European colonial powers. Although the new international border between the Republic of Sudan (Sudan) and South Sudan is not one of those, it originated during the colonial government of the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium (1899–1956) and it continues to be contested politically and administratively. The Sudan—South Sudan borderland is an ecological transitional…
Beyond Khartoum
South Sudan's separation from the Sudan on 9 July 2011 abundantly illustrated the relevance of Randall Fegley's Beyond Khartoum. Focusing on subnational politics and the consequences of its continuous mismanagement, this monograph sets out to outline political developments in the former Sudan. The first four chapters appear to be based on Fegley's PhD research. With a case study of the Northern Region as its centrepiece, this part of the book foc…
A quick fix? A retrospective analysis of the Sudan Comprehensive Peace Agreement
Critics decry the 2005 peace agreement between the government of the Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement as incomplete, a result of the desire of external actors for a quick solution that is neither truly comprehensive nor sustainable. Through a chronological analysis of the peace process between 2000 and 2005, this article demonstrates that the scope for compromise was limited and that a significantly ‘better’ deal was unlikely. The…
A False Start
Historians usually trace the start of the first civil war in the Southern Sudan to the Torit mutiny of 1955. However, organized political violence did not reach the level of civil war until 1963. This article argues that 1955–62 was a period of increasing political tension, local low-intensity violence, and social and economic stagnation. It shows how these conditions influenced the attitudes of government officials, informed the policies that th…
The making of the Anya-Nya insurgency in the Southern Sudan, 1961-64
Political tension, local violence and government suppression escalated in the Southern Sudan in the late 1950s and early 1960s. During this period of increasing international acceptance of “freedom fighters” and “wars of liberation”, groups of politicians in exile together with militarily trained Southerners progressively focused their efforts towards launching a rebellion; in exile, they sought international support and established political org…
Book Notes
Shields, Vanessa E & Nicholas D J Baldwin, eds, 2008. Beyond Settlement: Making Peace Last After Civil Conflict. Madison-Teaneck, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. 413 pp. ISBN 9780838641835
Woodward, Peter, 2006. US Foreign Policy and the Horn of Africa. Hampshire & Burlington, VT
African Guerrillas
Another civil war in South Sudan
Popular explanations for the outbreak of a new civil war in South Sudan have centred on ethnic factors and leadership personalities. This article demonstrates that the conflict is rooted in deep cleavages within the ruling political party, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM). When internal tensions came to a head in late 2013, a combination of neopatrimonial politics, a weak state structure and legacies of violence from the previous civ…
A False Start
Historians usually trace the start of the first civil war in the Southern Sudan to the Torit mutiny of 1955. However, organized political violence did not reach the level of civil war until 1963. This article argues that 1955–62 was a period of increasing political tension, local low-intensity violence, and social and economic stagnation. It shows how these conditions influenced the attitudes of government officials, informed the policies that th…
The making of the Anya-Nya insurgency in the Southern Sudan, 1961-64
Political tension, local violence and government suppression escalated in the Southern Sudan in the late 1950s and early 1960s. During this period of increasing international acceptance of “freedom fighters” and “wars of liberation”, groups of politicians in exile together with militarily trained Southerners progressively focused their efforts towards launching a rebellion; in exile, they sought international support and established political org…
Who are the civilians in the wars of South Sudan
This longitudinal study explores the place of the civilian populations in the wars of what is now South Sudan. Using a broad range of empirical evidence, we trace the evolution of conflict practices and norms from the 1800s to today. Two main insights stand out: First, since the initial colonial incursions, local residents have been strategic assets to be managed and exploited, and thus populations are not just legitimate targets in conflicts but…
A quick fix? A retrospective analysis of the Sudan Comprehensive Peace Agreement
Critics decry the 2005 peace agreement between the government of the Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement as incomplete, a result of the desire of external actors for a quick solution that is neither truly comprehensive nor sustainable. Through a chronological analysis of the peace process between 2000 and 2005, this article demonstrates that the scope for compromise was limited and that a significantly ‘better’ deal was unlikely. The…
Discourses of violence in the transition from colonialism to independence in southern Sudan, 1955-1960
The Torit Mutiny of August 1955 in southern Sudan did not trigger a civil war, but state violence and disorder escalated over the following years. We explore how the outlook and strategies of the government officials who inherited the state apparatus of the Anglo-Egyptian condominium contributed to this development. They perpetuated authoritarian and violent government practices based on a legalistic distinction between citizen and outlaw, while …
Security Force Assistance to Fragile States
Security Force Assistance (SFA) – the training and equipping of a foreign security force – represent a common form of intervention into fragile states. This introduction assesses the state of the field of SFA research and focuses on dynamics specific to recipient states with fragmented security sectors. Based on insights from the contributions to the special issue we propose a framework for research which covers conceptualisation, implementation …
Violence as politics in eastern Africa, 1940-1990
Over the 50 years between 1940 and 1990, the countries of eastern Africa were embroiled in a range of debilitating and destructive conflicts, starting with the wars of independence, but then incorporating rebellion, secession and local insurrection as the Cold War replaced colonialism. The articles gathered here illustrate how significant, widespread and dramatic this violence was. In these years, violence was used as a principal instrument in th…
Fragmented We Fall
Security Force Assistance (SFA) is presented as a panacea for security threats and governance problems in the Global South. Using Mali as a point of departure, in this article we explore the complex reality of SFA in a state with a highly fragmented security sector. A plethora of SFA providers collectively leaves a negative impact on the cohesion of the recipient security forces. Multiple SFA providers and uncoordinated implementation muddle obje…
Trade, peace-building and hybrid governance in the Sudan-South Sudan borderlands
Trade and markets in weak states are often discussed in relation with violence, security and peace-building. A case in point are marketplaces in the Sudan-South Sudan borderlands where communities separated by insecurity and hostility meet, not only to trade but also to negotiate and exchange information. This does not imply that establishment of such markets automatically results in peace and stability. Based on new empirical research on the Ami…
Civil War on a Shoestring
This article is a case study of armed opposition factions in the Central Equatoria region within South Sudan’s current civil war. Based on research in South Sudan and northern Uganda during the spring of 2017, the study focuses on the internal organisation, recruitment and funding processes, and political ideas of these organisations, engaging with recent theories concerning governance and civilians in rebel-controlled territories. It argues that…
The Nasty War
In 1963, unrest in Sudan's three southern provinces (today's South Sudan) escalated into a civil war between the government and the Anya-Nya rebellion. The subsequent eight years of violence has hitherto largely escaped scrutiny from academic researchers and has remained a subject of popular imagination and politicised narratives. This article demonstrates how this history can be explored with greater nuance, thereby establishing a local history …
Prospects for peace and the UN Regional Protection Force in South Sudan
ON 7 July 2016, A DEADLY CLASH between the guards of the president and vice-president of South Sudan sparked days of skirmishes, purges, looting and abuse of civilians across the capital city of Juba. At least 300 people were killed, including 2 Chinese UN soldiers,1 as soldiers under President Salva Kiir's command used combat helicopters, tanks and other heavy weaponry in the city suburbs.2 Next to a UN peacekeeping base, soldiers raped civilian…
The Root Causes of Sudan's Civil Wars
A year of South Sudan’s third civil war
The new civil war in South Sudan began in December 2013. It soon proved to be a disaster for the population, a threat to the integrity of the world’s youngest state and an embarrassment and conundrum to the international community. The article surveys the first year of this war. It outlines the course of military engagements, the consequences of the war for the people of South Sudan and the ways in which a peaceful settlement has been sought. Dur…
Small and Far Between
The massive expenditure on UN peacekeeping missions combined with a significant commitment of personnel and infrastructure creates 'peacekeeping economies' within host societies. We need to understand when and how peacekeeping economies are created and the kinds of factors that mitigate their occurrence, size and impact. Previous research indicates an overall tendency of UN missions to minimize involvement in host communities' economies, and cons…
Histories of the Hanged
Disposable rebels
During the Syrian War, the US and other Western countries trained, equipped and paid Syrian rebels to fight the government and, later, root out the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). When states use armed groups to attain foreign policy objectives, control is a key concern. The US sought to enforce such control over providers and recipients of lethal military assistance in the period from 2013–18. We investigate the parallel CIA and Dep…
Book Notes
Shields, Vanessa E & Nicholas D J Baldwin, eds, 2008. Beyond Settlement: Making Peace Last After Civil Conflict. Madison-Teaneck, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. 413 pp. ISBN 9780838641835
Sudan
The Root Causes of Sudan's Civil Wars
Histories of the Hanged
Book Notes
African Guerrillas
Woodward, Peter, 2006. US Foreign Policy and the Horn of Africa. Hampshire & Burlington, VT
Book Notes
Shields, Vanessa E & Nicholas D J Baldwin, eds, 2008. Beyond Settlement: Making Peace Last After Civil Conflict. Madison-Teaneck, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. 413 pp. ISBN 9780838641835
A quick fix? A retrospective analysis of the Sudan Comprehensive Peace Agreement
Critics decry the 2005 peace agreement between the government of the Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement as incomplete, a result of the desire of external actors for a quick solution that is neither truly comprehensive nor sustainable. Through a chronological analysis of the peace process between 2000 and 2005, this article demonstrates that the scope for compromise was limited and that a significantly ‘better’ deal was unlikely. The…
A False Start
Historians usually trace the start of the first civil war in the Southern Sudan to the Torit mutiny of 1955. However, organized political violence did not reach the level of civil war until 1963. This article argues that 1955–62 was a period of increasing political tension, local low-intensity violence, and social and economic stagnation. It shows how these conditions influenced the attitudes of government officials, informed the policies that th…
The making of the Anya-Nya insurgency in the Southern Sudan, 1961-64
Political tension, local violence and government suppression escalated in the Southern Sudan in the late 1950s and early 1960s. During this period of increasing international acceptance of “freedom fighters” and “wars of liberation”, groups of politicians in exile together with militarily trained Southerners progressively focused their efforts towards launching a rebellion; in exile, they sought international support and established political org…
Too Much Water under the Bridge
National borders in Africa are often presented as arbitrary and problematic impositions of European colonial powers. Although the new international border between the Republic of Sudan (Sudan) and South Sudan is not one of those, it originated during the colonial government of the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium (1899–1956) and it continues to be contested politically and administratively. The Sudan—South Sudan borderland is an ecological transitional…
Beyond Khartoum
South Sudan's separation from the Sudan on 9 July 2011 abundantly illustrated the relevance of Randall Fegley's Beyond Khartoum. Focusing on subnational politics and the consequences of its continuous mismanagement, this monograph sets out to outline political developments in the former Sudan. The first four chapters appear to be based on Fegley's PhD research. With a case study of the Northern Region as its centrepiece, this part of the book foc…
Discourses of violence in the transition from colonialism to independence in southern Sudan, 1955-1960
The Torit Mutiny of August 1955 in southern Sudan did not trigger a civil war, but state violence and disorder escalated over the following years. We explore how the outlook and strategies of the government officials who inherited the state apparatus of the Anglo-Egyptian condominium contributed to this development. They perpetuated authoritarian and violent government practices based on a legalistic distinction between citizen and outlaw, while …
Violence as politics in eastern Africa, 1940-1990
Over the 50 years between 1940 and 1990, the countries of eastern Africa were embroiled in a range of debilitating and destructive conflicts, starting with the wars of independence, but then incorporating rebellion, secession and local insurrection as the Cold War replaced colonialism. The articles gathered here illustrate how significant, widespread and dramatic this violence was. In these years, violence was used as a principal instrument in th…
A year of South Sudan’s third civil war
The new civil war in South Sudan began in December 2013. It soon proved to be a disaster for the population, a threat to the integrity of the world’s youngest state and an embarrassment and conundrum to the international community. The article surveys the first year of this war. It outlines the course of military engagements, the consequences of the war for the people of South Sudan and the ways in which a peaceful settlement has been sought. Dur…
Small and Far Between
The massive expenditure on UN peacekeeping missions combined with a significant commitment of personnel and infrastructure creates 'peacekeeping economies' within host societies. We need to understand when and how peacekeeping economies are created and the kinds of factors that mitigate their occurrence, size and impact. Previous research indicates an overall tendency of UN missions to minimize involvement in host communities' economies, and cons…
Another civil war in South Sudan
Popular explanations for the outbreak of a new civil war in South Sudan have centred on ethnic factors and leadership personalities. This article demonstrates that the conflict is rooted in deep cleavages within the ruling political party, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM). When internal tensions came to a head in late 2013, a combination of neopatrimonial politics, a weak state structure and legacies of violence from the previous civ…
A History of South Sudan
South Sudan is the world's youngest independent country. Established in 2011 after two wars, South Sudan has since reverted to a state of devastating civil strife. This book provides a general history of the new country, from the arrival of Turco-Egyptian explorers in Upper Nile, the turbulence of the Mahdist revolutionary period, the chaos of the 'Scramble for Africa', during which the South was prey to European and African adventurers and empir…
History of South Sudan
Civil War on a Shoestring
This article is a case study of armed opposition factions in the Central Equatoria region within South Sudan’s current civil war. Based on research in South Sudan and northern Uganda during the spring of 2017, the study focuses on the internal organisation, recruitment and funding processes, and political ideas of these organisations, engaging with recent theories concerning governance and civilians in rebel-controlled territories. It argues that…
Who are the civilians in the wars of South Sudan
This longitudinal study explores the place of the civilian populations in the wars of what is now South Sudan. Using a broad range of empirical evidence, we trace the evolution of conflict practices and norms from the 1800s to today. Two main insights stand out: First, since the initial colonial incursions, local residents have been strategic assets to be managed and exploited, and thus populations are not just legitimate targets in conflicts but…
Food Aid in Sudan
Food Aid in Sudan: A History of Power, Politics and Profit." Forum for Development Studies, 47(1), pp. 205–206
The Nasty War
In 1963, unrest in Sudan's three southern provinces (today's South Sudan) escalated into a civil war between the government and the Anya-Nya rebellion. The subsequent eight years of violence has hitherto largely escaped scrutiny from academic researchers and has remained a subject of popular imagination and politicised narratives. This article demonstrates how this history can be explored with greater nuance, thereby establishing a local history …
Trade, peace-building and hybrid governance in the Sudan-South Sudan borderlands
Trade and markets in weak states are often discussed in relation with violence, security and peace-building. A case in point are marketplaces in the Sudan-South Sudan borderlands where communities separated by insecurity and hostility meet, not only to trade but also to negotiate and exchange information. This does not imply that establishment of such markets automatically results in peace and stability. Based on new empirical research on the Ami…
Security Force Assistance to Fragile States
Security Force Assistance (SFA) – the training and equipping of a foreign security force – represent a common form of intervention into fragile states. This introduction assesses the state of the field of SFA research and focuses on dynamics specific to recipient states with fragmented security sectors. Based on insights from the contributions to the special issue we propose a framework for research which covers conceptualisation, implementation …
Political science (23 works) · Law (17 works) · Law (14 works) · Sociology (14 works) · Global Peace and Security Dynamics (12 works) · Politics (12 works) · Political Conflict and Governance (11 works) · Political economy (11 works) · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics (10 works) · Economics (9 works)