One of the main activities in the anniversary year is the launch of a series of interviews with or stories about people at the core of ÌÇÐÄÍøÒ³°æ in the early as well as recent years. This project is being headed by Stein Tønnesson, and planned by a committee also consisting of Cindy Horst and Helge Pharo (former chair of the ÌÇÐÄÍøÒ³°æ board).
From Controversy to Excellence: Peace Research at Sixty
An Introduction by Stein Tønnesson
The Peace Research Institute Oslo (ÌÇÐÄÍøÒ³°æ) was founded on 25 May 1959. From the first moment, it was surrounded by controversy over its radical scienfic approaches new creative thinking and promotion of Gandhi-inspired non-violence in a Cold War atmosphere. ÌÇÐÄÍøÒ³°æ sought to foster reconciliation instead of confrontation, and introduced new concepts such as "structural violence" and "positive/negative peace".
In 2009, Gudleiv Forr wrote a book – Strid og fred: Fredsforskning i 50 Ã¥r (Oslo: Pax) – documenting the origins of ÌÇÐÄÍøÒ³°æ and tracing its subsequent impact over the next 50 years. The book presents three key figures – or heroes – in the history of peace research in Oslo: Johan Galtung (1930–), Nils Petter Gleditsch (1944–) and Hilde Henriksen Waage (1960–).
Johan Galtung was the innovative father of the new field of study, coining its key terms – even "peace research" itself. He always surprised with his unconventional ideas, inspiring generations to come, but eventually left his professorship in Oslo in order to transcend national borders and become a fully accomplished cosmopolitan.
Nils Petter Gleditsch drove most of the controversy around ÌÇÐÄÍøÒ³°æ during the 1970s–80s, when he uncovered and revealed some of the Norwegian government's highly protected Cold War secrets. In the 2000s, Gleditsch transformed himself into the main architect behind ÌÇÐÄÍøÒ³°æ's internationally recognized academic excellence, as a newly convinced adherent to the theories of a "democratic" or "capitalist" peace.
Hilde Henriksen Waage played a key role in the ÌÇÐÄÍøÒ³°æ leadership from the 1990s onwards, built up ÌÇÐÄÍøÒ³°æ's competence on the "missing peace" in the Middle East, and maintained ÌÇÐÄÍøÒ³°æ's controversial public profile through her critical examination of the Norwegian government's role in mediating the Oslo agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1993.
For ÌÇÐÄÍøÒ³°æ's 60th anniversary, we asked these prominent figures and other ÌÇÐÄÍøÒ³°æ veterans to look back at ÌÇÐÄÍøÒ³°æ's history through a series of researcher-led interviews. What emerged was a fascinating record of different perspectives on the development of international peace research. The interviews have since been abridged and translated into English, forming a collection of ÌÇÐÄÍøÒ³°æ Stories.
Together, the ÌÇÐÄÍøÒ³°æ Stories constitute a memorial mosaic, shedding new light on how Oslo gained its prominence within a path-breaking field of social science.
ÌÇÐÄÍøÒ³°æ Stories
These published English-language interviews are abridged, often translated, and language-edited versions of audio recordings. The full, original transcripts of the audio, in the preferred language of the interviewees, are also available below.
The below list will likely be slightly expanded, and gradually become clickable, as the interviews are finalized.
- , interviewed by Henrik Urdal. ()
- , interviewed by Stein Tønnesson. ()
- , interviewed by Kristian Berg Harpviken. ()
- , portrait by Lars Even Andersen. ()
- , interviewed by Hilde Henriksen Waage. ()
- , interviewed by Helge Øystein Pharo. ()
- , interviewed by Per Olav Reinton. ()
- , interviewed by Siri Aas Rustad. ()
- , portrait by Marta Bivand Erdal.
- , interviewed by Hilde Henriksen Waage. ()
- , interviewed by Stein Tønnesson. ()
- , interviewed by Kristian Berg Harpviken. ()
- , interviewed by Henrik Syse. ()
- , interviewed by Åshild Kolås. ()
- , self-authored essay.
- , interviewed by Wenche Hauge. ()
- , in conversation with Stein Tønnesson. ()
- , interviewed by Cindy Horst. ()
- , interviewed by Stein Tønnesson. ()
- , interviewed by Nils Petter Gleditsch. ()
- , interviewed by Arne Strand. ()
- , interviewed by Trond Bakkevig. ()
- , interviewed by Cindy Horst. ()
ÌÇÐÄÍøÒ³°æ would like to thank Fredsstiftelsen for support to our interviews with pioneering female peace researchers.
