Tora Sagård

Research Assistant

Tora Sagård
Tora Sagård left PRIO in 2021. The information on this page is kept for historical reasons.

Research Interests

Nonviolent and violent protest, security force defection, conflict trends, ceasefires, terrorism and violent extremism, quantitative methods and spatial data.

Background

I graduated with a MA in political science from the University of Oslo (UiO) in 2019. My thesis, which focused on ceasefires in civil war, won me an award for a high-quality thesis from the Faculty of Social Sciences at UiO. At PRIO I have worked on several projects, including Conflict Trends, financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I have published policy briefs, PRIO papers, and popular articles. In addition, I authored the UNDP-PRIO report "When is Conventional Wisdom Wise? Testing the Assumptions Behind Preventing Violent Extremism" which was launched at OSLO 3, in June 2021 (https://oslo3.org/). I also have extensive data collection experience and have coordinated several data collection projects. 

Education: 

2017-2019: MA, Political science, University of Oslo and PRIO

2014-2017: BA, Political science and Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology and University of Cape Town

​Languages spoken: 

Norwegian, English


All Publications

Popular Article

Dahl, Marianne; Tora Sagård; Haakon Gjerløw & Bintu Zahara Sakor (2019) Twitterrevolusjonens vekst og fall [The Rise and Fall of the Twitter Revolution], Aftenposten, 8 December.

Master Thesis

Sagård, Tora (2019) Causes of Ceasefire Failure: A survival analysis, 1989-2017. MA thesis, Department of Political Science, University of Oslo, Oslo.

PRIO Policy Brief

Ryland, Reidun; Tora Sagård; Peder Landsverk; Håvard Mokleiv Nygård; Håvard Strand; Siri Aas Rustad; Govinda Clayton; Claudia Wiehler & Valerie Sticher (2018) The Effects of Ceasefires in Colombian Peace Processes, Conflict Trends, 7. Oslo: PRIO.

PRIO Paper

Ryland, Reidun; Tora Sagård; Peder Landsverk; Håvard Mokleiv Nygård; Håvard Strand; Siri Aas Rustad; Govinda Clayton; Claudia Wiehler; Valerie Sticher & David Lander (2018) The Effects of Ceasefires in Philippine Peace Processes, PRIO Paper. Oslo: PRIO.

Book Review

Sagård, Tora (2021) Review of de Carvalho, Benjamin; & Halvard Leira, eds, Hva er Internasjonal Politikk, in Internasjonal Politikk 79(3): 257–260.

Blog Posts

Oppression and Regime Survival: Will Trump’s reactions to the Black Lives Matter movement bring about his exit?

Posted by Tora Sagård, Vilde Bergstad Larsen & Marianne Dahl on Sunday, 5 July 2020

Since George Floyd’s brutal killing by the police in May, demonstrations have spread to more than 2,000 major cities and villages in the United States. Black Lives Matter (“BLM”) is probably the most widespread movement in the country’s history. In addition, we have seen huge global support, with demonstrations in ... Read more »

Ceasefires in the Time of COVID-19

Posted by Siri Camilla Aas Rustad, Tora Sagård, Håvard Mokleiv Nygård, Govinda Clayton & Fredrik Methi on Friday, 17 April 2020

This piece is part of our blog series Beyond the COVID Curve. COVID-19 has quickly changed everything from our daily routines, to the policies of governments, to the fortunes of the global economy. How will it continue to shape society and the conditions for peace and conflict globally in the near ... Read more »

PRIO Has the Leading Experts on Protests

Posted by Tora Sagård on Monday, 9 March 2020

How does a country’s security apparatus react to a protest movement? And what happens in the aftermath of successful protests? PRIO is conducting three major research projects about protest movements, securing its position as an international leader in this field. In 2019, the world experienced a surge of non-violent protest ... Read more »

The Rise and Fall of the Twitter Revolution

Posted by Bintu Zahara Sakor, Marianne Dahl, Haakon Gjerløw & Tora Sagård on Tuesday, 7 January 2020

The year 2019 ended with a new wave of non-violent protests. In every corner of the world there have been huge movements gathering. This marks the end of a decade that opened with the Arab Spring; a decade that might go down in history as the decade of mass protests. ... Read more »