Gorm Rye Olsen
Biographic Data
| ID | 998556 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Gorm Rye Olsen |
| GIVEN NAMES | Gorm Rye |
| FAMILY NAME | Olsen |
| SIGNATURE | OLSEN G R |
| AFFILIATIONS | Roskilde University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1595-1533 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 38 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 132 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 37 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1984 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Actors and structures in international relations. The US, the EU, and West Africa: From indifference and development to promotion of security
It is an old debate in social science, what is most influential, actors or structures? The paper resumes the discussion by concretely asking, how can the radical policy shift towards West Africa in the wake of the terrorist attacks on the US in September 11, 2001, be explained by applying an agency-structure approach? The article applies a theoretical framework combining neo-classical realist thinking with the reasoning found in historical instit…
When ‘’'limited statehood' becomes an asset. Fighting terrorism, migration and the consequences of 'Western' economic and military support to the Sahel
The Rumours of the Crisis of Liberal Interventionism Are Greatly Exaggerated
The Western reactions to the Russian assault on Ukraine in 2022 were surprisingly united and tangible. This article argues that the intervention in the Russia–Ukraine war was a continuation of other liberal interventions that took place earlier in the current century. This article claims that there is no crisis of liberal interventionism because foreign policy decision-makers in the US agree that (liberal) interventions in foreign countries can s…
America is Back” or “America First” and the Transatlantic Relationship
The presidency of Donald Trump represented an unprecedented low point in transatlantic relations. When Joe Biden took power in early 2021, his administration launched several policy initiatives suggesting that the new administration would continue to allow the seemingly long-term weakening of the transatlantic relationship to continue. A significant part of the literature on recent developments in transatlantic relations points in the same direct…
Twenty-First Century Military Multilateralism: “Messy” and With Unintended Consequences
The current century has witnessed several high-profile Western military interventions in developing countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, and Mali/West Africa are well-known examples. All three were initiated unilaterally by the US or France but were soon supplemented with multilateral missions which operated in parallel with the unilateral intervention force, giving them a “messy” appearance. In the three cases, the foreign policy decision-makers in the…
Transatlantic cooperation in flux: Europe’s small and cautious steps towards “strategic autonomy”
The existing, liberal world order is under pressure and transatlantic cooperation on security is challenged. The paper raises the question, why have the European steps and policy initiatives towards addressing the new international threats and challenges to Europe been so limited and cautious. The first argument states it is because the European decision-makers were unable to agree when it came to implementing salient and concrete policies addres…
Niger – Europe’s border guard? Limits to the externalization of the European Union’s migration policy
For the past 30 years, the European Union has ‘externalized’ its migration management policy to third countries. The article focuses on the implementation of the EU’s migration control policy in Niger in West Africa. Implementation of the control measures made the EU dependent on cooperation with national authorities of Niger. The article shows that both parties benefitted from cooperating. The number of migrants decreased significantly and the g…
Donald Trump and “America first”: The road ahead is open
The October 2011 Kenyan invasion of Somalia: Fighting al-Shabaab or defending institutional interests
This paper asks why Kenya invaded Somalia in October 2011. It scrutinises five possible explanations as to why Kenyan decision-makers decided to invade neighbouring Somalia. The explanations are inspired by different theoretical frameworks. Some are inspired by theories developed to analyse Western societies, whereas others are inspired by theoretical reflections aimed at understanding politics in Africa. It is concluded that the decision to inva…
The African Exception
Explores the four key dimensions of the conventional wisdom: the exercise of power, agrarian change, economic fundamentals, and international development aid, then discusses five new challenges that Africa has to face: conflict prevention and peace-building, biodiversity, aids/HIV, economies of crime, and belief system.
Obama and US policy towards Africa: A study in failure
The ambiguity of US foreign policy towards Africa
Since 9/11, the American policy towards Africa has been strongly influenced by national security interests and in particular by the fight against international terrorism and Islamic radicalisation. Traditionally, the American Africa policy has been the result of bureaucratic policymaking with the Pentagon and the State Department playing prominent roles. The paper argues that in the current century, evangelical Christian lobby groups have gained …
African Exception
The Neighbours of the European Union's Neighbours: Diplomatic and geopolitical dimensions beyond the European Neighbourhood Policy
Over the years, lots of journal articles and books dealing with the global role of the European Union have been published. There has been much focus on the potentially positive role the EU can play
After Afghanistan: The European Union as Security Provider in Africa
The article asks why the area stretching from Senegal over Nigeria to the Horn of Africa/East Africa is so important to European security. The area is clearly not the “near abroad” like the Middle East/North Africa or the former communist countries to the east. The article launches three arguments aimed at explaining the European Union's crisis management policy towards the region and in particular its strong focus on failed states and terrorism.…
Europeanisation and the EU's comprehensive approach to crisis management in Africa
This article asks to what extent the European Union (EU) and its member states actually pursued and implemented comprehensive approaches in relation to crisis management in Africa. It also asks what can explain the lack of full implementation of the comprehensive approach in the cases of South Sudan, Mali and the Central African Republic. It is shown that EU member states saw the added value of the common EU approach while at the same time they p…
Great power’ intervention in African armed conflicts
This paper asks why the United States (US), China and the European Union (EU) have intervened in a number of armed conflicts in Africa in the twenty-first century. Scrutiny and comparison of the motivations and interests of the three non-African actors in intervening in African crises are assumed to contribute to understanding the changing geopolitical environment and the current conditions for conflict management in Africa. The focus is not on t…
Whole-of-Government Approaches to Fragile States in Africa
For a number of years fragile states have been high on the foreign policy agendas of the USA and the EU. Both actors look upon fragile states with great concern and consider them as security threats. Officially they give priority to ‘whole-of-government approaches’ (wga) when addressing the threats from these states. However, there is a gap between the policy declarations and the policies implemented by the two actors. The missing link in the imp…
The European Union's Africa Policy: The Result of Nordicization or Europeanization
For a number of years, there has been an international debate on whether and to what extent small member states can influence the common external policies of the European Union. Recent research on the role of small EU states concludes that these states are neither per se political dwarfs nor power-brokers. The paper puts forward the hypothesis that the Nordic countries as small states have had a considerable influence on the EU's policies towards…
Civil–military cooperation in crisis management in Africa: American and European Union policies compared
The EU and Military Conflict Management in Africa: For the Good of Africa or Europe
During the 1990s, conflict prevention and conflict management became core priorities of the European Union's policy towards Africa. In the current decade, conflict management with military means has become increasingly important to the EU. The article scrutinizes the efforts of the EU to develop a military conflict management policy and it shows the dynamics and the interests lying behind the two core instruments: EU military operations within th…
The Post September 11 Global Security Agenda: A Comparative Analysis of United States and European Union Policies Towards Africa
Challenges to traditional policy options, opportunities for new choices: The Africa policy of the EU
The European Union has an Africa policy. But it is not clear‐cut and may lack total consistency and coherence, largely because policy towards Africa has been changing significantly since the end of the Cold War, and is still in a state of flux. Additionally, Africa south of the Sahara does not figure high on the list of foreign policy priorities of the EU, while formulating and implementing the Africa policy of the Union is not solely the respons…
Neo‐medievalism in Africa: Whither government‐to‐government relations between Africa and the European union
(2003). Neo‐medievalism in Africa: Whither government‐to‐government relations between Africa and the European union? Civil Wars: Vol. 6, Neo‐Medievalism and Civil Wars, pp. 94-120
Humanitarian Crises: What Determines the Level of Emergency Assistance? Media Coverage, Donor Interests and the Aid Business
This paper proposes a basic hypothesis that the volume of emergency assistance any humanitarian crisis attracts is determined by three main factors working either in conjunction or individually. First, it depends on the intensity of media coverage. Second, it depends on the degree of political interest, particularly related to security, that donor governments have in a particular region. Third, the volume of emergency aid depends on strength of h…
Promotion of democracy as a foreign policy instrument of ‘Europe: Limits to international idealism
The promotion of democracy abroad was a much published issue in 'European' foreign policy during the 1990s. Based on five case studies, this article argues that the policy had very clear limitations to it. The limits were mainly imposed by the high priority given to security, and secondly they were the result of the institutional structure and the political‐bureaucratic culture of the European Community. However, it would be wrong to conclude tha…
Humanitarian Crises: What Determines the Level of Emergency Assistance? Media Coverage, Donor Interests and the Aid Business
This paper proposes a basic hypothesis that the volume of emergency assistance any humanitarian crisis attracts is determined by three main factors working either in conjunction or individually. First, it depends on the intensity of media coverage. Second, it depends on the degree of political interest, particularly related to security, that donor governments have in a particular region. Third, the volume of emergency aid depends on strength of h…
The EU and Military Conflict Management in Africa: For the Good of Africa or Europe
During the 1990s, conflict prevention and conflict management became core priorities of the European Union's policy towards Africa. In the current decade, conflict management with military means has become increasingly important to the EU. The article scrutinizes the efforts of the EU to develop a military conflict management policy and it shows the dynamics and the interests lying behind the two core instruments: EU military operations within th…
Europe and the Promotion of Democracy in Post Cold War Africa: How Serious Is Europe and for What Reason
The ending of the Cold War brought new topics on the agenda of the international aid donors. Questions of democracy and human rights were voiced with rising intensity not least by the European Union and by individual European countries. However, when it came to implementing the ambitious principles, both the EU and the bilateral donors lacked a ‘serious’ commitment. This is indicated by European policies towards South Africa, Kenya, Niger and Alg…
Niger – Europe’s border guard? Limits to the externalization of the European Union’s migration policy
For the past 30 years, the European Union has ‘externalized’ its migration management policy to third countries. The article focuses on the implementation of the EU’s migration control policy in Niger in West Africa. Implementation of the control measures made the EU dependent on cooperation with national authorities of Niger. The article shows that both parties benefitted from cooperating. The number of migrants decreased significantly and the g…
The October 2011 Kenyan invasion of Somalia: Fighting al-Shabaab or defending institutional interests
This paper asks why Kenya invaded Somalia in October 2011. It scrutinises five possible explanations as to why Kenyan decision-makers decided to invade neighbouring Somalia. The explanations are inspired by different theoretical frameworks. Some are inspired by theories developed to analyse Western societies, whereas others are inspired by theoretical reflections aimed at understanding politics in Africa. It is concluded that the decision to inva…
Europeanisation and the EU's comprehensive approach to crisis management in Africa
This article asks to what extent the European Union (EU) and its member states actually pursued and implemented comprehensive approaches in relation to crisis management in Africa. It also asks what can explain the lack of full implementation of the comprehensive approach in the cases of South Sudan, Mali and the Central African Republic. It is shown that EU member states saw the added value of the common EU approach while at the same time they p…
Civil–military cooperation in crisis management in Africa: American and European Union policies compared
Challenges to traditional policy options, opportunities for new choices: The Africa policy of the EU
The European Union has an Africa policy. But it is not clear‐cut and may lack total consistency and coherence, largely because policy towards Africa has been changing significantly since the end of the Cold War, and is still in a state of flux. Additionally, Africa south of the Sahara does not figure high on the list of foreign policy priorities of the EU, while formulating and implementing the Africa policy of the Union is not solely the respons…
European public opinion and aid to Africa: Is There a Link
The current international debate on aid to Africa seems to assume that public opinion matters, i.e. it presupposes the existence of a 'bottom-up' relationship between public opinion and aid policy. This paper shows that it is rather the other way round. It is only possible to understand the relationship between decision-making on aid and public opinion as a 'top-down' relationship. The conclusion is supported by case studies of five European aid …
Western Europe's Relations with Africa Since the End of the Cold War
AFRICA South of the Sahara became so marginalised during the 1980s that its share of world trade fell from 3·8 per cent in 1960 to 1·05 per cent in 1989. And it has attracted relatively little foreign investment, with the exception of a few exporters of petroleum: only 2,000 million US dollars in 1995 corresponding to 2 per cent of the total for developing countries. Indeed, the continent's share (including North Africa) declined from 11 per cent…
Transatlantic cooperation in flux: Europe’s small and cautious steps towards “strategic autonomy”
The existing, liberal world order is under pressure and transatlantic cooperation on security is challenged. The paper raises the question, why have the European steps and policy initiatives towards addressing the new international threats and challenges to Europe been so limited and cautious. The first argument states it is because the European decision-makers were unable to agree when it came to implementing salient and concrete policies addres…
The ambiguity of US foreign policy towards Africa
Since 9/11, the American policy towards Africa has been strongly influenced by national security interests and in particular by the fight against international terrorism and Islamic radicalisation. Traditionally, the American Africa policy has been the result of bureaucratic policymaking with the Pentagon and the State Department playing prominent roles. The paper argues that in the current century, evangelical Christian lobby groups have gained …
Promoting Democracy, Preventing Conflict: The European Union and Africa
The Rumours of the Crisis of Liberal Interventionism Are Greatly Exaggerated
The Western reactions to the Russian assault on Ukraine in 2022 were surprisingly united and tangible. This article argues that the intervention in the Russia–Ukraine war was a continuation of other liberal interventions that took place earlier in the current century. This article claims that there is no crisis of liberal interventionism because foreign policy decision-makers in the US agree that (liberal) interventions in foreign countries can s…
Donald Trump and “America first”: The road ahead is open
Obama and US policy towards Africa: A study in failure
Great power’ intervention in African armed conflicts
This paper asks why the United States (US), China and the European Union (EU) have intervened in a number of armed conflicts in Africa in the twenty-first century. Scrutiny and comparison of the motivations and interests of the three non-African actors in intervening in African crises are assumed to contribute to understanding the changing geopolitical environment and the current conditions for conflict management in Africa. The focus is not on t…
The Post September 11 Global Security Agenda: A Comparative Analysis of United States and European Union Policies Towards Africa
America is Back” or “America First” and the Transatlantic Relationship
The presidency of Donald Trump represented an unprecedented low point in transatlantic relations. When Joe Biden took power in early 2021, his administration launched several policy initiatives suggesting that the new administration would continue to allow the seemingly long-term weakening of the transatlantic relationship to continue. A significant part of the literature on recent developments in transatlantic relations points in the same direct…
The EU and Conflict Management in African Emergencies
Since the beginning of the European Community, there have been ambitions to develop 'Europe' into a significant foreign policy actor with its own security and defence policy. The development of an independent European defence is a key to fulfilling this goal. The European rapid reaction force declared operational at the EU summit in Laeken in December 2001 may contribute to the EU's role as an international actor. A number of preconditions have t…
Europe and Africa in the 1990s: European Policies towards a Poor Continent in an Era of Globalisation
The NGOs and the International Environment in the 1990s
Gorm Rye Olsen, ‘The NGOs and the International Environment in the 1990s’, Forum for Development Studies, 1996: 1, pp. 177–184. During the past 20 years, there has been a very positive attitude towards and a growing concern about the environment in most OECD countries. Both the mass media and the public opinion have developed a more and more positive attitude in favour of doing ‘something’ for the environment. The environmental NGOs have played a…
Danish Development Policy: The Art of Compromise
Gorm Rye Olsen, ‘Danish Aid Policy: The Art of Compromise’, Forum for Development Studies, No. 1–2, 1994, pp. 269–294. Since its start in the early 19605, Danish aid policy has been the battleground for a variety of organisations and interest groups. In spite of that, all interested parties are agreed on the desirablity of winning the broadest possible support for the policy. Political compromise has thus become the hallmark of the Danish develop…
Saudi Arabia: The Form of Regime, its Social Basis and Political Change
Domestic and International Causes of Instability in the Horn of Africa, with Special Emphasis on Ethiopia
This article analyses the international and domestic causes behind the instability in the Horn of Africa. Two sets of theories are applied: on the one hand, modern historical materialist theories of international relations, and, on the other, recent theories on the development of African societies. Based on this, it is concluded that the main causes of instability are domestic, i.e. the personalized political system of Ethiopia in particular. How…
Danish Development Policy: The Art of Compromise
Gorm Rye Olsen, ‘Danish Aid Policy: The Art of Compromise’, Forum for Development Studies, No. 1–2, 1994, pp. 269–294. Since its start in the early 19605, Danish aid policy has been the battleground for a variety of organisations and interest groups. In spite of that, all interested parties are agreed on the desirablity of winning the broadest possible support for the policy. Political compromise has thus become the hallmark of the Danish develop…
North-South Relations in the Process of Change: The Significance of International Civil Society
The NGOs and the International Environment in the 1990s
Gorm Rye Olsen, ‘The NGOs and the International Environment in the 1990s’, Forum for Development Studies, 1996: 1, pp. 177–184. During the past 20 years, there has been a very positive attitude towards and a growing concern about the environment in most OECD countries. Both the mass media and the public opinion have developed a more and more positive attitude in favour of doing ‘something’ for the environment. The environmental NGOs have played a…
Western Europe's Relations with Africa Since the End of the Cold War
AFRICA South of the Sahara became so marginalised during the 1980s that its share of world trade fell from 3·8 per cent in 1960 to 1·05 per cent in 1989. And it has attracted relatively little foreign investment, with the exception of a few exporters of petroleum: only 2,000 million US dollars in 1995 corresponding to 2 per cent of the total for developing countries. Indeed, the continent's share (including North Africa) declined from 11 per cent…
Europe and the Promotion of Democracy in Post Cold War Africa: How Serious Is Europe and for What Reason
The ending of the Cold War brought new topics on the agenda of the international aid donors. Questions of democracy and human rights were voiced with rising intensity not least by the European Union and by individual European countries. However, when it came to implementing the ambitious principles, both the EU and the bilateral donors lacked a ‘serious’ commitment. This is indicated by European policies towards South Africa, Kenya, Niger and Alg…
Promotion of democracy as a foreign policy instrument of ‘Europe: Limits to international idealism
The promotion of democracy abroad was a much published issue in 'European' foreign policy during the 1990s. Based on five case studies, this article argues that the policy had very clear limitations to it. The limits were mainly imposed by the high priority given to security, and secondly they were the result of the institutional structure and the political‐bureaucratic culture of the European Community. However, it would be wrong to conclude tha…
Europe and Africa in the 1990s: European Policies towards a Poor Continent in an Era of Globalisation
The World Bank and the IMF: Tax, Democracy and Shrinking Aid in Sub-Saharan Afarica
The article focuses on three sets of questions. First, how do the World Bank and the IMF analyse the current situation in which less and less development aid is being channelled into Africa? In this connection: how do the two IFIs assess the future budgetary problems of African governments as a consequence of shrinking aid budgets? Second, how do they look upon the ongoing economic globalisation processes? Is globalisation a threat to the already…
European public opinion and aid to Africa: Is There a Link
The current international debate on aid to Africa seems to assume that public opinion matters, i.e. it presupposes the existence of a 'bottom-up' relationship between public opinion and aid policy. This paper shows that it is rather the other way round. It is only possible to understand the relationship between decision-making on aid and public opinion as a 'top-down' relationship. The conclusion is supported by case studies of five European aid …
Promoting Democracy, Preventing Conflict: The European Union and Africa
The EU and Conflict Management in African Emergencies
Since the beginning of the European Community, there have been ambitions to develop 'Europe' into a significant foreign policy actor with its own security and defence policy. The development of an independent European defence is a key to fulfilling this goal. The European rapid reaction force declared operational at the EU summit in Laeken in December 2001 may contribute to the EU's role as an international actor. A number of preconditions have t…
Neo‐medievalism in Africa: Whither government‐to‐government relations between Africa and the European union
(2003). Neo‐medievalism in Africa: Whither government‐to‐government relations between Africa and the European union? Civil Wars: Vol. 6, Neo‐Medievalism and Civil Wars, pp. 94-120
Humanitarian Crises: What Determines the Level of Emergency Assistance? Media Coverage, Donor Interests and the Aid Business
This paper proposes a basic hypothesis that the volume of emergency assistance any humanitarian crisis attracts is determined by three main factors working either in conjunction or individually. First, it depends on the intensity of media coverage. Second, it depends on the degree of political interest, particularly related to security, that donor governments have in a particular region. Third, the volume of emergency aid depends on strength of h…
Challenges to traditional policy options, opportunities for new choices: The Africa policy of the EU
The European Union has an Africa policy. But it is not clear‐cut and may lack total consistency and coherence, largely because policy towards Africa has been changing significantly since the end of the Cold War, and is still in a state of flux. Additionally, Africa south of the Sahara does not figure high on the list of foreign policy priorities of the EU, while formulating and implementing the Africa policy of the Union is not solely the respons…
The Post September 11 Global Security Agenda: A Comparative Analysis of United States and European Union Policies Towards Africa
The EU and Military Conflict Management in Africa: For the Good of Africa or Europe
During the 1990s, conflict prevention and conflict management became core priorities of the European Union's policy towards Africa. In the current decade, conflict management with military means has become increasingly important to the EU. The article scrutinizes the efforts of the EU to develop a military conflict management policy and it shows the dynamics and the interests lying behind the two core instruments: EU military operations within th…
Civil–military cooperation in crisis management in Africa: American and European Union policies compared
The European Union's Africa Policy: The Result of Nordicization or Europeanization
For a number of years, there has been an international debate on whether and to what extent small member states can influence the common external policies of the European Union. Recent research on the role of small EU states concludes that these states are neither per se political dwarfs nor power-brokers. The paper puts forward the hypothesis that the Nordic countries as small states have had a considerable influence on the EU's policies towards…
Whole-of-Government Approaches to Fragile States in Africa
For a number of years fragile states have been high on the foreign policy agendas of the USA and the EU. Both actors look upon fragile states with great concern and consider them as security threats. Officially they give priority to ‘whole-of-government approaches’ (wga) when addressing the threats from these states. However, there is a gap between the policy declarations and the policies implemented by the two actors. The missing link in the imp…
Great power’ intervention in African armed conflicts
This paper asks why the United States (US), China and the European Union (EU) have intervened in a number of armed conflicts in Africa in the twenty-first century. Scrutiny and comparison of the motivations and interests of the three non-African actors in intervening in African crises are assumed to contribute to understanding the changing geopolitical environment and the current conditions for conflict management in Africa. The focus is not on t…
The Neighbours of the European Union's Neighbours: Diplomatic and geopolitical dimensions beyond the European Neighbourhood Policy
Over the years, lots of journal articles and books dealing with the global role of the European Union have been published. There has been much focus on the potentially positive role the EU can play
After Afghanistan: The European Union as Security Provider in Africa
The article asks why the area stretching from Senegal over Nigeria to the Horn of Africa/East Africa is so important to European security. The area is clearly not the “near abroad” like the Middle East/North Africa or the former communist countries to the east. The article launches three arguments aimed at explaining the European Union's crisis management policy towards the region and in particular its strong focus on failed states and terrorism.…
Europeanisation and the EU's comprehensive approach to crisis management in Africa
This article asks to what extent the European Union (EU) and its member states actually pursued and implemented comprehensive approaches in relation to crisis management in Africa. It also asks what can explain the lack of full implementation of the comprehensive approach in the cases of South Sudan, Mali and the Central African Republic. It is shown that EU member states saw the added value of the common EU approach while at the same time they p…
Political science (37 works) · Law (32 works) · Economics (30 works) · Law (30 works) · Politics (29 works) · Political economy (24 works) · Global Peace and Security Dynamics (21 works) · Sociology (21 works) · Development economics (20 works) · International Development and Aid (17 works)