Geir Lundestad

Geir LUNDESTAD ( born January 17, 1945 in Sulitjelma ) is a Norwegian historian. Since 1990 he is Director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo and secretary of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

Life and academic career

Geir LUNDESTAD came in 1945 in the northern Norwegian mining settlement Sulitjelma born and grew up in Bodo.

His study of history at the University of Oslo in 1970 he graduated with the degree of Cand. philol. from. Since 1974 LUNDESTAD taught the subject of history as a lecturer at the University of Tromsø, where he also earned his Ph.D. in 1976 and from 1979 to 1988 was professor of American Studies. From 1988 to 1990 he also held the chair of history at this university.

He also starred in the years 1978/1979 and 1983 also in research projects at Harvard University and the Woodrow Wilson Center (1988 /1989). At times LUNDESTAD was a professor at the Institute of Archaeology, Conservation and Historical Studies at the University of Oslo.

Controversies about Nobel Prizes

LUNDESTAD is regarded as the "driving force " of the two controversial Nobel Peace Prizes to U.S. President Barack Obama (2009) and to the Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo (2010). He has for the Nobel Prize candidate, a proposal right, but have no vote and shall attend all meetings of the Committee. The Chinese government and other critics accuse the last two decisions in a one-sided partisanship for the U.S. geopolitics.

Bibliography

To Geir Lundestads 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, north, sør: hovedlinjer i internasjonal politikk siden 1945 ( four revisions in the years 1985 to 2005), and "Empire " by integration: the United States and European integration, 1945-1997 (1998).

Awards

The Norwegian King Harald V appointed Geir LUNDESTAD on 20 November 2008 as commander of the St. Olav's Order.