Ingvald Godal (26 October 1934 – 28 January 2019) was a Norwegian politician for the Centre Party and later the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

. For the former party he was a State Secretary as well as

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Vinje Vinje is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Telemark in the Counties of Norway, county of Vestfold og Telemark in Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional regions of Upper Telemark and Vest-Telemark. The administrative ...

; for the latter party he served four terms in the

Norwegian Parliament The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years base ...

. He was also involved in various organizations, most latterly the Norwegian Support Committee for Chechnya.

Professional career

Born in Aker as the son of a

vicar A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...

and a teacher, he took his secondary education at

Hamar Cathedral School Hamar katedralskole ( en, Hamar Cathedral School) is an upper secondary school in Hamar, Norway. History Founded in 1153 as Schola cathedralis hamarensis, it is the second oldest school in Norway together with Bergen katedralskole and Oslo katedr ...

in 1953. He spent one year in the His Majesty The King's Guard before enrolling in higher education. In 1959 he graduated from the

Heriot-Watt University Heriot-Watt University ( gd, Oilthigh Heriot-Watt) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and subsequently granted univ ...

as an engineer. During his time here, he had chaired the British chapter of the Alliance of Norwegian Students Abroad from 1957 to 1959. From 1960 to 1965 he worked for the Ministry of Works in the Northern Region, at that time a federal division of

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

, and from 1965 to 1969 he worked for Norconsult in

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

and other countries. From 1969 to 1970 he worked with civil relief during the

Nigerian Civil War The Nigerian Civil War (6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970), also known as the Nigerian–Biafran War or the Biafran War, was a civil war fought between Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra, a secessionist state which had declared its independence f ...

. He then spent one year in Asplan before settling in Vinje, Telemark to run a private business. Ultimately, from 1982 to 1985, he was chief administrative officer in Vinje municipality.

Political career

A member of the Centre Party, he was appointed State Secretary in the Ministry of the Environment in 1972, when the

cabinet Korvald Korvald's Cabinet governed Norway between 18 October 1972 and 16 October 1973. The centre cabinet was led by Lars Korvald as Prime Minister and consisted of the Christian Democratic Party __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political p ...

assumed office. He lost this job when the cabinet Korvald fell following the 1973 election. However, he was elected mayor of Vinje municipality in 1975, and served through one four-year term. He was then a member of the

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counci ...

for three years, sitting in the executive committee. He had chaired the local party chapter in Oslo from 1969 to 1971, and chaired the regional chapter in Telemark from 1979 to 1981. During both these periods he was a member of the national board of the Centre Party. Godal was elected to the

from

Telemark Telemark is a traditional region, a former county, and a current electoral district in southern Norway. In 2020, Telemark merged with the former county of Vestfold to form the county of Vestfold og Telemark. Telemark borders the traditional ...

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

, but had changed his allegiance to the

. He was re-elected in 1989, 1993 and

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

, finally retiring ahead of the 2001 election. During the first term he was a member of the Standing Committee on Energy and Industry. In 1989 he changed to the Standing Committee on Defence, as well as serving one month as a member of the Enlarged Foreign Affairs Committee. During the last two terms he was a full member of both these committees. Godal was previously involved in defence politics as vice president of the pro-

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

organization from 1985 to 1987. He also chaired the regional chapter of the

Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities The Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities ( no, KS) is an employers' organisation in Norway. It was founded in 1972 as a merger between the Union of Norwegian Cities (''Norges Byforbund'', founded in 1903) and the Norwegian Asso ...

from 1975 to 1979, the nationwide

hydropower Hydropower (from el, ὕδωρ, "water"), also known as water power, is the use of falling or fast-running water to Electricity generation, produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by energy transformation, converting the Pot ...

interest group Nationwide Association of Hydropower Municipalities from 1977 to 1985, and the Norwegian Support Committee for Chechnya from 2002 to 2007 of which he was a board member. He published several non-fiction books about different countries. His 2003 book ''Tsjetsjenia: der enkene blir selvmordsbombere'' ( en, Chechnya: Where the Widows Become Suicide Bombers) included a preface written by

Anna Politkovskaya Anna Stepanovna Politkovskaya (;, ; uk, Ганна Степанівна Політковська , 30 August 1958 – 7 October 2006) was a Russian journalist and human rights activist, who reported on political events in Russia, in partic ...

. Godal was decorated Commander of the

Order for Merits to Lithuania The Order for Merits to Lithuania ( lt, Ordinas Už nuopelnus Lietuvai) is an award, presented by the President of Lithuania, which may be conferred on the citizens of Lithuania and foreign nationals for distinguished services promoting name of Lit ...

in 2012. He died on 28 January 2019 at the age of 84.

Selected works

* * * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Godal, Ingvald 1934 births 2019 deaths Centre Party (Norway) politicians Conservative Party (Norway) politicians Members of the Storting Mayors of places in Telemark Norwegian state secretaries Hamar Katedralskole alumni Alumni of Heriot-Watt University Norwegian non-fiction writers Writers about Africa 21st-century Norwegian politicians 20th-century Norwegian politicians