Acknowledgements
This book was written as a PhD Dissertation at the Department of Public and International Law, Faculty of Law, University of Oslo, while working at the Norwegian Defence University College. First of all, I would like to thank my supervisors, Professor Alf Petter Høgberg and Professor Michael N. Schmitt. Alf Petter, thank you for helping me understand what a PhD thesis is supposed to be, and for helping me think outside the box. Mike, I’m forever grateful for all your advice, corrections, and patience. I’ve learned a lot from you! I would also like to thank the members of my PhD assessment committee, Kjetil Mujezinović Larsen, Wolff Heintschel von Heinegg, and Laurie Blank, for your invaluable comments in the report and interesting discussions during my PhD defence. And to my mid-term evaluator, Marten Zwanenburg, thank you for all the detailed and constructive comments. I am also grateful to the U.S. Naval War College for giving me a chance to be a visiting scholar.
I would also like to thank colleagues at the Norwegian Defence Command and Staff College, especially my colleagues of many years, Sigrid Redse Johansen, Tom Staib, Böðvar Ingvarsson, Jo Andreas Sannem, Andreas Wangberg, and Geir Ødegaard, for many good discussions and for adding humour to my working day. I’m also very grateful to all of my past and present superiors in the military chain of command who have given me so much freedom in defining how, and especially where, I wanted to carry out my research.
My colleagues in the nato community have been instrumental in helping me ensure that I have fully understood how nato works, both in general and with regards to roe. In particular, Lewis Bumgardner, thank you so much for your support and our discussions, and for giving me the opportunity to teach and discuss roe at the nato School Oberammergau and with the nato roe Mobile Training Team. And Terry McCollom, I’m forever grateful for all your support: for answering all my questions, providing comments, and for letting me join nato hq/ims for the HQ exercise and a research stay.
The opinions and views expressed in this book are of course my own, and do not necessarily represent or reflect that of the Norwegian Armed Forces or nato, and any errors are entirely mine.
To family and friends, thank you for all your support, and for listening to my PhD ramblings for so long! Especially Vibeke (mamma) and Anette: thank you for everything, from helping with Lucy to hour-long conversations. Erik (pappa), I wish you could have lived to see me finish this work. I know you would have been proud.
And last but most important: to Lucy and Chris. Lucy, “mummy’s book”, which you have lived with your entire life, is finally done! You are the most caring and amazing little girl. Thank you for making me laugh and for reminding me that there are more important things in life than work. And to Chris, I cannot thank you enough. Thank you for the support, for the patience, for picking up any tasks I haven’t done, and for letting this project define our lives for so long. I dedicate this book to you.
Oslo, 10 September 2019