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Citation |
Skånland H. Coop. Confl. 2010; 45(1): 34-54. |
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Copyright |
(Copyright © 2010, Nordic Committee for the Study of International Politics, Publisher SAGE Publishing) |
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DOI |
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PMID |
unavailable |
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Abstract |
Since the early 1990s, Norway has been involved in peace promotion in conflicts all over the world. The article explores how this activist peace promotion came to pass, and how it has become naturalized as an integral part of Norway’s foreign policy. It adopts a discourse analytic approach with the aim of uncovering the structure of meanings and understandings, the resulting realities and their influence on Norwegian policy. The main conclusion is that the discourse emerging in the wake of the Middle East peace process in 1993 has been dominated by one particular representation of the peace engagement. It inscribes Norway with considerable agency and ability to contribute to peace; it constructs the Norwegian approach as unique and efficient; it lays out a combination of self-interest and altruism as motivation; and it links the peace engagement to the very identity of the Norwegian nation. It thus legitimizes, naturalizes and defends the policy. As such, the dominant representation has been an important precondition for peace efforts. However, the analysis also indicates that the start of a denaturalization of the engagement has been witnessed in recent years. |