Research Interests
Doctoral research on return migration to Iraq from Norway and the UK, supervised by Dr. Jørgen Carling as part of the wider research project 'Possibilities and Realities of Return Migration' (PREMIG), coordinated from PRIO.
Key words
Return migration, Iraqi and Kurdish forced migration, voluntary return and reintegration programmes, transnationalism, war and migration, inclusion and exclusion of migrants.
Background
Languages spoken:
English, Norwegian, Arabic, German, French, Spanish (to varying degrees).
Working experience:
2009-2011: Research assistant at a joint CMI/PRIO evaluation of a voluntary assisted return and reintegration programme for Iraqis (IRRINI), commissioned by the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration.
2011: Freelance work for the Norwegian People's Aid, producing a popular article on the socioeconomic status of Palestinian refugees in Syria, Jordan and Iraq.
2010-2011: Research assistant at the Institute of Sociology and Human Geography, University of Oslo, analyzing processes of inclusion and exclusion among young adults with immigration background within the EUMARGINS project.
2008: Middle East analyst and writer for the Norwegian Refugee Council’s annual report on displacement worldwide.
2007: Freelance researcher for the League of Arab States HQ/Department of Population and Migration, in Cairo, Egypt.
2002-2003: Solidarity worker and English teacher for the Palestine Committee of Norway in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon.
Education:
2011-(ongoing): Doctoral candidate at Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO).
2007-2009: M.A. in Middle East and North African Studies. University of Oslo. Awarded scholarship and institutional affiliation with the Peace Research Institute Oslo and the Centre of Excellence for the Study of Civil War.
2006-2007: Advanced Arabic language studies for postgraduate students. University of Oslo and International Language Institute, Cairo, Egypt.
2004-2006: B.A. in Middle East and North African Studies. University of Oslo and Goethe Institute, Damascus, Syria.
2000-2001: Foundational studies in Anthropology and Psychology. University of Tromsø.
1996-1998: International Baccalaureate. Trondheim Katedralskole.
Publications
Paasche, E; Knudsen, A. & Strand, A. (2013). 'War and Migration', in Ness. I (Ed.) The Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration, Wiley-Blackwell: Oxford.
Fangen, K. & Paasche, E. (forthcoming, 2013). 'Young Adults of Ethnic Minority Background on The Norwegian Labour Market: The Interactional Co-construction of Exclusion by Employers and Customers', Ethnicites.
Paasche, E. & Fangen, K. (2013). 'Transnational Involvement: Reading Quantitative Studies in Light of Qualitative Data', International Journal of Population Research.
Paasche, E. & Strand, A. (2012). 'En komparativ analyse av to landbaserte retur- og reintegreringsprogrammer: Hva fungerer (ikke) i reintegreringsfasen? [A Comparative Analysis of Two Country-based Return And Reintegration Programmes: What Works in The Reintegration Phase?] I: Berg, B. & Valenta, M. Asylsøker: I velferdstatens venterom. Universitetsforlaget: Oslo.
Paasche, E. (2011). 'Iraqi Refugees in A Damascus Suburb: Carriers of Sectarian Conflict', International Journal of Contemporary Studies, 5(2): pp. 247-262.
Paasche, E. & Fangen, K. (2011). "Ethnic School Segregation: Effects and Policies", EUMARGINS Policy Brief No. 4. Paasche, E. & Fangen, K. (2010). "Transnational Involvement: Reading A Quantitative Study in Light of Qualitative Data," conference paper presented at the 'Transnational Practices in Migration' (TRANSMIG) conference, University of Stockholm, 4-5 November.
Kallas, K; Fangen, K. & Paasche, E. (2010). "Labour Market Discrimination: Is Discrimination an Issue? Young Adults with Immigration Background in the Labour Market", EUMARGINS Policy Brief No. 3.
Fangen, K; Lynnebakke, B. & Paasche, E. (2010). "Citizenship Regimes: Consequences for Inclusion and Exclusion of Young Adult Immigrants in Europe", EUMARGINS Policy Brief No. 2.
Paasche, Erlend. (2010). “Back to the Future: Iraqi Refugees Contemplate a Return to Iraq”, Jane’s Intelligence Review, Vol. 22, No. 1.
Gebara, C. & Paasche, E. (2007). "Youth Participation and International Examples of Best Practice in the Development Field". League of Arab States, Internal Document.
Gebara, C. & Paasche, E. (2007). "Capacity Building of Youth Leaders in the Arab Region". League of Arab States, Internal Document.
All Publications
Peer-reviewed Journal Article
Book Chapter
Paasche, Erlend; Arne Strand & Are Knudsen (2013)
War and Migration, in
The Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration. Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell.
Non-refereed Journal Article
PRIO Report
Carling, Jørgen; Marta Bolognani; Marta Bivand Erdal; Rojan Tordhol Ezzati; Ceri Oeppen; Erlend Paasche; Silje Vatne Pettersen; & Tove Heggli Sagmo (2015)
Possibilities and Realities of Return Migration,
PRIO Project Summary. Oslo: PRIO.
Book Review
Paasche, Erlend (2008) Review of Sinan Antoon, ed.,
'idsja:m, in
Babylon – Nordisk tidsskrift for Midtøstenstudier 6(2): 136–137.
Blog Posts
International migration and corruption have several things in common: they play key roles in development processes, feature prominently on policy agendas, and are the subject of large research literatures. However, the connections between migration and corruption, whether in the country of origin or along migration trajectories, remain relatively unexplored. The ... Read more »
Posted by Erlend Paasche on Friday, 30 January 2015
Rejected asylum seekers often resist the legal obligation to return. Consequently, European policy makers tasked with migration managament have turned to so-called ‘Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration programmes’ (AVRRs) to incentivize return to and support reintegration in the country of origin. Such programmes are described as less politically costly, more ... Read more »
Posted by Erlend Paasche on Monday, 24 November 2014
A change of prime minister will not resolve Iraq’s structural problems, and while a dysfunctional Iraqi state is reeling from onslaughts by Islamic extremists, the Iraqi Kurds in the north of the country have never been stronger. Even so, we are very unlikely to see an independent Iraqi Kurdistan in ... Read more »
Posted by Erlend Paasche on Saturday, 15 November 2014
Iraq’s new prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, faces the enormous task of uniting the country. But whatever the outcome, Iraq cannot be restored to how it was before the summer. There is broad agreement that the former Iraqi prime minister, Nour al-Maliki, was a part of the problem, and that his ... Read more »
Posted by Erlend Paasche on Wednesday, 29 October 2014
Has the Iraqi Kurds’ sense of national identity been strengthened by the emergence of the so-called Islamic State? Not necessarily. If anything, mounting socio-economic and political tensions inside northern Iraq have been tearing at Kurdish nationalism for the last decade. The so-called Islamic State (IS) continues to pose a serious ... Read more »