Author: Nils Petter Gleditsch

Ola Listhaug (1949–2023)

Ola Listhaug was an international scholar, a mentor to numerous students and younger colleagues, and an entrepreneurial university administrator. He passed away on 14 September and will be missed by many. Ola Listhaug was born in the small community of Sjøholt in Western Norway, where he also eventually retired and died. Following studies at the… Read more »

Can Peace be Researched? Revisiting a 55-Year-Old TV Program

I was reminded recently that a 55-year-old TV program about PRIO and peace research is currently available on the website of NRK, Norway’s public radio and TV company. You can access it here. The two-part program was broadcast on 18 and 25 October 1966. NRK does not have any information about when it was shot,… Read more »

The Democratic Civil Peace and Beyond: Scott Gates Interviewed by Nils Petter Gleditsch

Scott Gates, interviewed by Nils Petter Gleditsch ‘Strong critical theory doesn’t play a big role in peace science anymore, or even in peace studies’, states American political scientist Scott Gates in this conversation with his long-term collaborator Nils Petter Gleditsch. Scott calls for more and better recording of data disaggregated in time and space; more… Read more »

Toward a Social-Democratic Peace?

The post–World War II period has shown a clear, albeit erratic, decline of organized violence. Violence in this period peaked during the Chinese Civil War, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and most recently the Syrian Civil War, but the peaks are declining over time and the long-term trend in absolute numbers is clearly downward…. Read more »

Olav Bjerkholt (1942–2020)

Olav Bjerkholt, professor emeritus of economics at Oslo University, passed away on 16 February. A mathematician who converted himself to an economist, he worked in the Research Department at Statistics Norway (Statistisk sentralbyrå, SSB) for 30 years. He then moved to the University of Oslo as professor of energy and oil economics. In his emeritus… Read more »

Lewis F Richardson – An Exceptional Scholar

Lewis Fry Richardson (1881–1953) was an extraordinary scholar. Trained as a physicist, he became world famous in two rather different fields, meteorology and peace research. Academic prizes have been named for him in both areas. He also made important contributions to psychology. My just-published edited volume reviews Richardson’s contributions to peace research and related disciplines… Read more »

Opening Peace Research

This week, we’ll be marking International Open Access Week with a series of short blog posts on open access and open science at PRIO. Today, we kick off the series with a blog by Nils Petter Gleditsch. We asked Nils Petter – a long-standing cornerstone of the community here at PRIO – to reflect on… Read more »