PhD Profile: Sjoerd de Winter

On February 24th 2022, the Russian Federation launched a military invasion of Ukraine that shocked the European continent and the rest of the world to its core.

It served as a reminder that the stability on the continent was fragile, and that solid cooperation between states is essential to the survival of sovereign states. A prime example of this realisation is Sweden and Finland applying for membership of NATO; and Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia applying for EU-membership. We have nevertheless not seen such drastic wishes for further integration in Norway – the case of my project.

Norway is already closely integrated with the rest of Europe. It was a founding member state of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and is also a part of the European Economic Area. Despite all this, it never fully joined the European Union as a Member State. However, considering the drastic changes that Finland, Sweden, Georgia, Moldova, and (not least) Ukraine experienced as a direct result of the invasion, it is not unlikely that said invasion has had an impact on the relations between Norway and the EU as well. These effects are precisely what I aim to look at in my project. More specifically, I plan to conduct qualitative research and look at how the frames used by Norwegian politicians in relation to this topic have changed. Moreover, have particular interest groups that are closely involved with the relation between Norway and the EU been affected by the war when it comes to their perspectives on Norwegian EU-membership? Has the Russian invasion of Ukraine impacted Norwegian cooperation with European institutions? These are some of the core issues I aim to look at.

Theoretically, I will make use of (inter alia) framing theory, cleavage theory, and theory on the relation between stability and change. Methodologically, I plan to work with a multiple comparative case study design, frame analyses, and semi-structured qualitative interviews arranged through non-probability types of sampling such as purposive sampling and snowball sampling.

I should point out that my project is in its early stages, and that it is therefore still a work in progress. Should you be interested in my research or have and questions or ideas, feel free to reach out to me by email.