Congratulations, Dr. Brøgger!

Tine Elisabeth Johnsen Brøgger defended her PhD thesis "Beyond the State? The Establishment of Integrative Commitments in European Security and Defence Cooperation" on 16 January 2024.

States have generally been reluctant to cooperate and integrate in the field of security and defence. This is often explained by states’ unwillingness to enter into agreements that would constrain their authority, Brøgger writes in her thesis.

However, in the last ten years, European states have increasingly entered into security and defence agreements. In her thesis, Brøgger ask how this has been possible.

Three cases of security and defence cooperation

Brøgger has conducted three case studies in her thesis. The first case is a study of Nordic security and defence cooperation, the second is a study of the establishment of different European defence cooperations, and in the third case study, she looks at bilateral security and defence cooperation between France and Britain.

The thesis concludes that to understand why security and defence cooperation has changed, one must consider both strategic and material interests, as well as each country’s understanding of its own role on the international arena. In addition, Brøgger finds that a shared sense of identity and norms is important for understanding how security and defence integration between states is possible.

The findings are presented in three research articles. The first is already published in the journal European Security: ‘Beyond the “lowest common denominator”? Mutually binding commitments in European security and defence cooperation: the case of the Nordic states’.

Disputation at the University of Oslo

The public defence took place in Gamle Festsal on 17 January 2024.

Brøgger’s adjudication committee was Associate Professor Lisbeth Aggestam, University of Gothenburg, Professor Richard Whitman, University of Kent and Professor Janne Haaland Matlary, University of Oslo.

Her supervisors were Research Professor Helene Sjursen, ARENA Centre for European Studies, University of Oslo and Associate Professor Karin Dokken, University of Oslo.

Brøgger received funding from the Norwegian Ministry of Defence to write her PhD thesis. 

Read the abstract and press release here.