My research focuses on the role of the body in social transformation and the reproduction of power, especially as this occurs through the materials of everyday life. How do material relations mediate state governance, contestation, and alternative forms of belonging within and beyond national boundaries?

I currently lead the Norwegian Research Council project Arctic Silk Road: Imagining Global Infrastructures and Community Boundaries in Sápmi and the Russian North, which follows the social lives of railways, ports, and northern sea route infrastructure across Norway, Finland, and Russia.

From the study of craft making and cultural tourism in Sápmi, to land demarcation in East Africa, I write about the institutionalized and embodied ways that people experience and act on relations of power and belonging. In doing so, I seek to illuminate how bodily practice can be harnessed to achieve social transformation--both individually and in society at large. See my website for more details.

Offentlig politikk med særlig vekt på samhandlingen mellom det sentrale og lokale styringsnivået, helsesamhandling, beslutningsprosesser og vilkårene for lokaldemokrati i kommunene.

Deltar i instituttets forskningsgruppe Local Democracy Research Group (LDR)

Prosjektdeltakelse
- Kommunale vekstvedtak, NAVF-prosjekt
- Beslutningsstruktur og fordelingsutfall ved innføring av Nytt Inntektssystem, NAVF-prosjekt (Kommunelovprogrammet)
- Mot nye former for samhandling mellom staten og kommunene?, (prosjektleder) NFR-prosjekt med en stipendiat
- Globalisering nedenfra (NFR-prosjekt)

Formidling og popularisering
Fast gjesteskribent i Nordlys høst 97/vår 98.  Forelest bla på Høgskolene i Bodø og Alta, kurs for kommunale ledere i Bodø, norske og russiske tjenestemenn i Alta og på tjenestemannsakademiet i Murmansk(invitert av det norske konsulatet).  Forelest på flere av Etter/videreutdanningstilbudene ved IST.  Foredrag på Lokaldemokratikonferansen 1999, arr. KS. Foredrag Valglovsutvalget.  Div. avis- ( bla Aftenposten og Dagens næringsliv) og radiointervjuer om kommunalpolitikk og offentlig politikk generelt. 
Kronikk Aftenposten 30.08.00 og 22.08.01
To innlegg i ”Tromsøflaket” om universitetets personalpolitiske filosofi.
Kronikk i KS-nytt, nr3, 2000
Foredrag NSFs etterutdanningskonferanse 2001, Stavanger 26.04.01
Foredrag Statens topplederkonferanse 25.09.01., arr. AAD
Diverse foredrag for kommuner, fylkeskommuner og statlige etater.

Undervisning
Veileder hovedfags-/masterstudenter og dr.polit-studenter.  Faglig medansvarlig for utarbeidelse av viderutdanningstilbud for rådmenn i Norden (Unikom/IST).  Forelest på grunn-, mellom- og hovedfagsnivå, BA- og MA- nivå, IST.   Sensor UiO, UiB, HiB, HiL
Deltatt i en rekke interne og eksterne bedømmelseskomiteer (stipendiat- og førsteamanuensisvurderinger, doktorgradskomiter).

Undervisningstema
Offentlig politikk, ledelse og styring, kommunalpolitikk og politisk teori

• General theory: A concept of collective rationality

My main interest is in a theory of collective action in modern society. The assumption is that the dynamics of collective action is poorly understood in the social sciences because they lack concepts to account for the rational aspects of collective action. The development of the three concepts of collective rationality, solidarity as a medium and collective power is central to this undertaking.

• Theory of society: Solidarity as a medium of integration in functionally differentiated societies

The three concepts of collective rationality, rational solidarity and collective power enables a new approach to empirical research on integration of the function systems of modern society, like the economy, politics, education, law, medical treatment and science, and processes of inclusion and exclusion of individuals into these systems of communication

• Theory of science: Methodological constructivism

The aim is to demonstrate how an epistemological constructivism opens up a new kind of reflection on all the elements of the scientific research process, not only as social but scientific constructions. At the centre is a reorientation of the relationship between theoretical and empirical research, structuring the research process in four phases each connecting a specific research question with logics of research.

These topics are related: The lack of a concept of collective rationality is an obstacle to empirical research on forms of integration in modern society, and to appreciate the scope for rational collective action in modern society. To create a concept of collective rationality, one has first to discern the epistemic obstacle that explains why sociological theories replace the distinction of individual and collective rationality, with the distinction of individual rationality and social norms. Through the research logic of abduction new scientific concepts are constructed which enables new empirical observations.

The politics and foreign policy of China; Northeast Asian politics and political economy (China, Japan, North and South Korea, Russian Far East); Arctic foreign policy and regional relations, including Asia-Arctic diplomacy; international relations theory and practice; security studies including economic and non-traditional security.

Current Research Interests

• Comparative Chinese politics and foreign policy / international relations, including local and regional institution-building, security and political economy
• Comparative international and regional organisation, theory and practice
• East Asian and Russian Far East domestic politics, security and regional diplomacy
• Traditional / non-traditional security studies, (also war to peace transitions, peacekeeping)
• Economic security / comparative Asian approaches to international political economy

Blog: Over the Circle: Arctic Politics and Foreign Policy

Sample Publications

Books

Chinese Foreign Policy: An Introduction (London and New York: Routledge, 2009). (Second edition published January 2013, Third edition published December 2015, Fourth edition published 2019).

Nordic-China Diplomacy ed. with Wrenn Yennie Lindgren and Bjørnar Sverdrup-Thygeson, (New York and London: Routledge, 2017).

China’s Evolving Approach to Peacekeeping ed. with Miwa Hirono (London and New York: Routledge, 2012). (Paperback version, August 2014).

The Chinese Party-State in the 21st Century: Adaptation and the Reinvention of Legitimacy, ed. with André Laliberté (London and New York: Routledge, 2008); (paperback version, 2013).

China and International Institutions: Alternate Paths to Global Power (London and New York: Routledge, 2005); (Paperback version, 2007).

Chapters

‘Russia, China and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization: Diverging Security Interests and the “Crimea Effect”,’ Russia's Turn to the East: Domestic Policymaking and Regional Cooperation, ed. Helge Blakkisrud and Elana Wilson Rowe (Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave, 2017), 119-38, https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-69790-1.

(with Ulf Sverdrup) ‘Sino-Nordic Sub-regional Diplomacy and the “5+1” Model,’ China and Nordic Diplomacy, ed. Bjørnar Sverdrup-Thygeson, Wrenn Yennie Lindgren and Marc Lanteigne (London and New York, Routledge, 2017), 121-32.

‘Iceland’s Small State Diplomacy with China,’ China and Nordic Diplomacy, ed. Bjørnar Sverdrup-Thygeson, Wrenn Yennie Lindgren and Marc Lanteigne (London and New York, Routledge, 2017), 60-76.

(with Lina A. Alexandra) ‘New Actors and Innovative Approaches to Peacebuilding: The Case of Myanmar,’ Rising Powers and Peacebuilding: Breaking the Mould? Ed. Charles T. Call, Cedric de Coning (Cham, Switzerland: SpringerLink, 2017), 191-241.

‘The Russian Far East and the Northern Sea Route in Evolving Sino-Russian Strategic Relations’, Huang Jing and Alexander Korolev (eds.) The Political Economy of Pacific Russia: Regional Developments in East Asia (Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave, 2017), 181-202.

‘Vanuatu,’ Pacific Ways: Government and Politics in the Pacific Islands, ed. Stephen Levine (2nd edition) (Wellington: Victoria University Press, 2016). 261-71.

‘The South China Sea in China’s Developing Maritime Strategy,’ Power Politics in Asia’s Contested Waters: Territorial Disputes in the South China Sea, ed. Enrico Fels and Truong-Minh Vu (New York: Springer, 2016), 97-115.

‘China’s Economic Security,’ Routledge Handbook of Chinese Security, ed. Lowell Dittmer and Maochun Yu, (New York and London: Routledge, 2015), 49-63.

Articles

The Changing Shape of Arctic Security,' NATO Review, 28 June 2019, https://www.nato.int/docu/review/2019/Also-in-2019/the-changing-shape-of-arctic-security/EN/index.htm.

'European Troubles and Norway’s Three-Point Game,' Global Brief, 20 June 2019, https://globalbrief.ca/2019/06/european-troubles-and-norways-three-point-game/.

'China's UN Peacekeeping in Mali and Comprehensive Diplomacy,' China Quarterly (March 2019), https://doi.org/10.1017/S030574101800173X.

(with Miwa Hirono and Yang Jiang), 'China's New Roles and Behaviour in Conflict-Affected Regions: Reconsidering Non-Interference and Non-Intervention,' China Quarterly (March 2019), 
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305741018001741.

'The China–Switzerland Free Trade Agreement and Economic Identity-Building,' Journal of Contemporary China, (January 2019), https://doi.org/10.1080/10670564.2018.1557949.

‘The Role of U.N. Peacekeeping in China’s Expanding Strategic Interests,’ United States Institute of Peace - Special Report (18 September 2018), <https://www.usip.org/publications/2018/09/role-un-peacekeeping-chinas-expanding-strategic-interests>.

‘Kiina kurottaa pohjoiseen,’ [‘China Reaches the North’], Ulkopolitiikka, 12 September 2018, https://www.ulkopolitiikka.fi/lehti/3-2018/kiina-kurottaa-pohjoiseen/.

‘Book Review: “China’s Soft Power Diplomacy in South Asia: Myth or Reality?” by B.M. Jain, China Quarterly 233(March 2018): 249-50.

‘ “The Rock That Can’t be Moved”: China’s Revised Geo-strategies in Myanmar,’ Pacific Review (December 2017), https://doi.org/10.1080/09512748.2017.1419276: 1-19.

‘试析中国维和观念的演变,’ [‘Analysis of the Evolution of China's Peacekeeping Concept,’] 国际政治研究 International Political Studies – Peking University 4(September 2017): 53-67.

‘Walking the Walk: Science Diplomacy and Identity-building in Asia-Arctic Relations,’ Jindal Global Law Review 8(1)(April 2017): 87-101.

‘ “Have You Entered the Storehouses of the Snow?” China as a Norm Entrepreneur in the Arctic,’ Polar Record 53(2)(March 2017): 117-30.

 ‘Norden og Kina: «Smått er godt» Islands økonomiske diplomati med Kina,’ (“Small is Beautiful”: Iceland’s Economic Diplomacy with China,’ Internasjonal Politikk 74(3)(Autumn 2016), <https://tidsskriftet-ip.no/index.php/intpol/article/view/497>.

‘Choppy Waters: The “Return” of Fiji to Pacific Affairs After the 2014 Election,’ Third World Thematics: A Third World Quarterly Journal (June 2016),

<http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23802014.2016.1188673>.

‘The Role of China in Emerging Arctic Security Discourses,’ S+F Sicherheit und Frieden / Security and Peace 3(2015): 150-5.

(with Su Ping) ‘China’s Developing Arctic Policies: Myths and Misconceptions,’ Journal of China and International Relations 3(1) (May 2015): 1-25.

(with Aglaya Snetkov), ‘The Loud Dissenter and its Cautious Partner – Russia, China, and Global Governance and Humanitarian Interventions,’ International Relations of the Asia-Pacific 15(1)(January 2015): 113-46.

‘Fire Over Water: China’s Naval Modernisation and the Anti-Piracy Operations,’ Pacific Review 26(3)(2013): 289-312.

Other

[Citation] Isabelle Facon, ‘Pékin et Moscou, complices mais pas allies,’ Le Monde diplomatique, August 2018, 7-8. <https://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2018/08/FACON/58982>.

‘Zimbabwe's Election and an Uncertain Future,’ New Zealand Herald, 11 August 2018, <https://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503459&objectid=12104598>.

[Quotation] A Silk Road Through the Ice: China Wants to be a Polar Power,’ The Economist, (12 April 2018): 27-8.

(with Mingming Shi), ‘The (Many) Roles of Greenland in China’s Developing Arctic Policy.’ The Diplomat, 30 March 2018, <https://thediplomat.com/2018/03/the-many-roles-of-greenland-in-chinas-developing-arctic-policy/>.

‘Northern Crossroads: China and Russia in the Arctic,’ National Bureau of Asian Research, Washington DC, 27 March 2018, <http://www.nbr.org/research/activity.aspx?id=853>

‘Trump-Kim talks: What's at Stake for New Zealand Isn't Just Peace,’ Stuff (New Zealand), 9 March 2018, <https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/102146500/trumpkim-talks-whats-at-stake-for-new-zealand-isnt-just-peace>.

[Interview] ‘Breyttar horfur í Asíu,’ (‘Changed Outlook in Asia’), Interview for Morgunblaðið, Reykjavík, 8 March 2018, <https://www.mbl.is/mogginn/bladid/innskraning/?redirect=%2Fmogginn%2Fbladid%2Fgrein%2F1675217%2F%3Ft%3D261026944&page_name=grein&grein_id=1675217>

[Podcast] ‘China’s Polar Push: A Conversation with Marc Lanteigne,’ China Power Project, Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Washington DC, 26 February 2018, <https://www.csis.org/podcasts/chinapower/chinas-polar-push-conversation-marc-lanteigne>.