Geir Lundestad

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Geir Lundestad, 2005

Geir Lundestad (born January 17, 1945 in Sulitjelma ) is a Norwegian historian. From 1990 to 2015 he was director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo and secretary of the Norwegian Nobel Peace Committee.

Life and academic career

Geir Lundestad was born in the northern Norwegian mining settlement of Sulitjelma in 1945 and grew up in Bodø .

He completed his history studies at the University of Oslo in 1970 with the academic degree Cand. philol. from. Since 1974 Lundestad has been teaching history as a lecturer at the University of Tromsø , where he also obtained his doctorate in 1976 and taught as a professor of American studies from 1979 to 1988. From 1988 to 1990 he also held a chair in history at this university.

In addition, in 1978/1979 and 1983 he was involved in research projects at Harvard University and the Woodrow Wilson Center (1988/1989). For a time, Lundestad held a professorship at the Institute for Archeology, Conservation and Historical Studies at the University of Oslo.

Controversies over Nobel Prizes

Lundestad was initially considered to be one of the driving forces behind the controversial Nobel Peace Prize to US President Barack Obama (2009) and the Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo (2010). He has the right to propose Nobel Prize candidates, but no voting rights, and he takes part in all committee meetings. The Chinese government and other critics accuse the last two decisions of one-sided partisanship for US geopolitics .

In September 2015, Kagge-Verlag in Oslo published a book in which Lundestad explains what happened during his 25 years as secretary of the Nobel Committee. It says that it was the committee head, who has not been re-elected and former Norwegian Prime Minister Thorbjørn Jagland , who, against some opposition, won both US President Barack Obama and Chinese Liu Xiabo as award winners. Lundestad is derogatory about several members of the committee. This led to a lively debate in Norway, in which politicians and the media accused Lundestad of breaking confidentiality with numerous internal matters. Lundestad rejected this. On September 21, 2015, it was announced that Lundestad would have to vacate his office in the Nobel Institute in Oslo.

bibliography

Geir Lundestad's most important publications include his doctoral thesis The American Non-Policy Towards Eastern Europe 1943-1947 , America, Scandinavia and the Cold War 1945-1949 (1980), Øst, vest, nord, sør: hovedlinjer i internasjonal politikk siden 1945 (four Revisions in the years 1985 to 2005), as well as "Empire" by integration: the United States and European integration 1945-1997 (1998). The book about his work in the Nobel Committee, published in Norwegian, is entitled Fredens sekretær. 25 år med Nobel prizes. Histories in Nobels fredspris, fortalt fra innsiden . Kagge forlag, Oslo 2015, ISBN 978-82-489-1707-6 .

Awards

The Norwegian King Harald V appointed Geir Lundestad on November 20, 2008 as the commander of the Order of Saint Olav .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Elmar Jung: Head of the Day: Geir Lundestad - the secret power. ( Memento from August 1, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) In: Financial Times Deutschland , December 10, 2010.
  2. ↑ Mark Siemons: Trial of Power for the Nobel Peace Prize. In: FAZ , December 11, 2010.
  3. ^ F. William Engdahl: The Geopolitical Agenda behind the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize. In: voltaire.net, October 23, 2010.
  4. ↑ Thomas Borchert: Scolding for Nobel Prize Committee. "Peace Secretary" Geir Lundestad attests jurors knowledge gaps and dependency. In: Frankfurter Rundschau of September 18, 2015, p. 8
  5. ↑ http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/Lundestad-kastes-ut-av-kontoret-pa-Nobelinstituttet-8175563.html
personal data
SURNAME Lundestad, Geir
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Norwegian historian and secretary of the Norwegian Nobel Committee
DATE OF BIRTH January 17, 1945
PLACE OF BIRTH Sulitjelma