List of members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee

The five members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee award the Nobel Peace Prize every year. They are appointed by the Parliament of Norway and roughly represent the political makeup of that body. The committee was established in 1897, and has awarded the prize most years since 1901. Fifty-four people have sat on the committee, of which ten have been women. Thirteen have been chair and six deputy chair. Since 2009, the members are former parliamentarians Thorbjørn Jagland (chair and Labour Party), Kaci Kullmann Five (deputy chair and Conservative Party), Sissel Rønbeck (Labour), Inger-Marie Ytterhorn (Progress Party) and Ågot Valle (Socialist Left Party).
Historically, the committee's members have represented seven political parties, including the Liberal Party, the Centre Party and the Christian Democratic Party. The awards in 1935 (to Carl von Ossietzky), 1973 (to Henry Kissinger) and 1994 (to Yasser Arafat) caused members of the committee to withdraw due to disagreement with the committee decision. Six people have sat as the committee's secretary, who is also director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute. Since 1990, this has been Geir Lundestad, professor of history at the University of Oslo.
Contents
Appointment
The five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee was established on 5 August 1897, after the Parliament of Norway accepted the duty to award the Nobel Peace Prize as stated in the will of Alfred Nobel.[1] The first prize was awarded in 1901.[2] The Committee is assisted by a secretariat that is part of the Norwegian Nobel Institute.[3] In 1901, the committee was renamed the Nobel Committee of the Parliament of Norway, but this was reverted in 1977.[1] In 1948, the election system was changed to make the committee more proportional to the representation in parliament.[4] From then until 1967, the Labour Party, who held a majority in parliament, had three representatives in the committee.[2]
It is no longer possible for active parliamentarians to sit on the committee, except for the last half year of parliamentary representation, if they have stated that they will not run for re-election. This allowed Jagland and Valle to sit on the committee in 2009, while they were still elected. The appointment is made by parliament after nominations by the parties who are to be represented in the committee. In 2009, the Labour Party had two seats, while the three next-largest parties, the Progress Party, the Conservative Party and the Socialist Left Party, each have one representative. The remaining parties in parliament are not represented.[5]
Current members
Thorbjørn Jagland (born 5 November 1950) has sat on and chaired the committee since 2009. He is a Labour Party politician from Lier and sat in parliament representing Buskerud from 1993 to 2009. Jagland is former party leader (1992–2002), Prime Minister (1996–97), Minister of Foreign Affairs (2000–01) and President of the Parliament (2005–09). Since 2006, Jagland has chaired the Oslo Center and since 2009 been Secretary General of the Council of Europe. He holds a master's degree in economics and has never held full-time employment outside politics or in his party.[6][7]
Kaci Kullmann Five (born 13 April 1951) has sat on the committee since 2003 and been deputy chair since 2009. She is a Conservative Party politician from Bærum and sat in parliament representing Akershus from 1981 to 1997. Five is former Minister of Trade and Shipping (1989–90) and party leader (1991–94). Since leaving politics, she has been a business executive and board member, and since 2002 a consultant. She holds a master's degree in political science.[6][8]
Sissel Rønbeck (born 24 May 1950) has sat on the committee since 1994. She is a Labour Party politician from Oslo and sat in parliament representing Oslo from 1977 to 1993. Rønbeck is former Minister of Administration and Consumer Affairs (1979–81), Minister of the Environment (1986–89) and Minister of Transport and Communications (1996–97). She had leave of absence from the committee during her last term as minister. Rønbeck has no higher education. Since 1993, she has been vice president at the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage.[6][9]
Inger-Marie Ytterhorn (born 18 September 1941) has sat on the committee since 2000. She is a Progress Party politician from Bergen and Oslo, and sat in parliament representing Hordaland from 1989 to 1993, and as a deputy member of parliament from 1993 to 2001. Ytterhorn has higher education in linguistics. She is a retired sole proprietor.[6][10]
Ågot Valle (born 26 May 1945) has sat on the committee since 2009. She is a Socialist Left Party politician from Levanger and Bergen and sat in parliament representing Hordaland from 1997 to 2009. She is former President of the Odelsting (2001–05) and a physiotherapist by profession, although now retired.[6][11]
Members


The committee has had 54 different members. Thirteen people have been chair and six deputy chair. Ten women have sat on the committee, starting with Aase Lionæs in 1949. From 2009, four of the board's five members are women. Christian Lous Lange is the only person to have both sat on the committee and been its secretary, and the only peace laureate to have sat on the committee. Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson was, however, awarded the Nobel Literature Prize. The longest-serving members are Hans Jacob Horst and Aase Lionæs, who both served for 30 years. The longest-sitting chair is Gunnar Jahn, who sat for 26 years as chair and 29 years on the committee. The longest period without any changes to the committee was the 15 years from 1949 to 1963. The shortest-sitting member was Esther Kostøl, who sat for less than a year in 1997.[2][6]
Seven political parties have been represented in the committee. The first committee consisted exclusively of members of the Liberal Party. The party was represented on all committees until 1973, after which it has not had a seat. In 1907, Francis Hagerup became the first representative from the Conservative Party, and this party has been represented on the board since. The Labour Party has been represented on the board since 1919, when Halvdan Koht became a member. The Agrarian Party (since named the Centre Party) was first represented on the board by Birger Braadland in 1938. The Christian Democratic Party was first represented by Erling Wikborg in 1965, the Socialist Left Party by Hanna Kvanmo in 1991 and the Progress Party by Inger-Marie Ytterhorn in 2000.[2]
Three awards have resulted in members withdrawing from the committee. Following the 1935 award to the German pacifist Carl von Ossietzky, Johan Ludwig Mowinckel and Halvdan Koht withdrew. Koht was later re-appointed to the committee.[2] Following the 1973 award to Lê Đức Thọ and Henry Kissinger, Einar Hovdhaugen and Helge Rognlien withdrew. Following the 1994 award to Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin, Kåre Kristiansen withdrew.[2][12][13]
Secretaries
Since 1990, the secretary has been Geir Lundestad (born 1945), director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute and adjunct professor of international history at the University of Oslo. He holds a doctorate from the University of Tromsø from 1976, where he worked as an associate and later professor of American civilization and then history. He has also been a research fellow at Harvard University and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.[18]
Secretary | Start | End | Tenure (years) |
---|---|---|---|
Christian Lous Lange | 1901 | 1909 | 9 |
Ragnvald Moe | 1910 | 1945 | 36 |
August Schou | 1946 | 1973 | 18 |
Tim Greve | 1974 | 1977 | 4 |
Jakob Sverdrup | 1978 | 1989 | 12 |
Geir Lundestad | 1990 | present | 20 |
Notes and references
Notes
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
Cite error: Invalid <references>
tag; parameter "group" is allowed only.
<references />
, or <references group="..." />
References
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
Cite error: Invalid <references>
tag; parameter "group" is allowed only.
<references />
, or <references group="..." />
Bibliography
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Heffermehl, 2008: 53–54
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Heffermehl, 2008: 84–85
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
Cite error: <ref>
tags exist for a group named "note", but no corresponding <references group="note"/>
tag was found, or a closing </ref>
is missing