Karin Cecilie "Kaci" Kullmann Five (; 13 April 1951 – 19 February 2017) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

politician for 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 ...

. She served as a Member of Parliament from 1981 to 1997, as Minister of Trade and Shipping in the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...

from 1989 to 1990 and as leader of the Conservative Party from 1991 to 1994. After she left politics in 1997, she held roles in private business, ran her own consultancy and was a board member of Statoil and other companies and organisations. She was elected by the Storting as a member of the

Norwegian Nobel Committee The Norwegian Nobel Committee ( no, Den norske Nobelkomité) selects the recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize each year on behalf of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel's estate, based on instructions of Nobel's will. Five members are appointed by ...

in 2003, became a board member of the

Nobel Foundation The Nobel Foundation ( sv, Nobelstiftelsen) is a private institution founded on 29 June 1900 to manage the finances and administration of the Nobel Prizes. The foundation is based on the last will of Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite. It ...

in 2009 and served as chairwoman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee from 2015 until her death; in this capacity she was responsible for awarding the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemi ...

Biography

Five was born Karin Cecilie Kullmann in

Bærum Bærum () is a municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Norway that forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a population of 128,760 (2021). It is part of the electoral ...

, the daughter of a dentist, and was better known by the nickname "Kaci" (). After finishing upper secondary school at

Nadderud Nadderud is a district in eastern Bærum, Norway. It was formerly farmland under one of Bærum's larger farms, named Nadderud, but since the 1950s it has been built up with housing, several schools and sporting facilities. The best known facility, ...

in 1969 she was educated in

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

French language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...

and

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

, and graduated with the

cand.polit. Candidate (Latin ''candidatus'' or ''candidata'') is the name of various academic degrees, chiefly in Scandinavia, the Soviet Union, the Netherlands and Belgium. In Scandinavia, it is a higher professional-level degree usually corresponding to 5– ...

degree in political science at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

in 1981. Before she entered politics she was a consultant at the Norwegian Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO). In 1972 she married

Carsten O. Five Carsten Ole Five (born 2 May 1949) is a Norwegian financial adviser, editor and former politician for the Conservative Party. He was married to the politician Kaci Kullmann Five. He graduated with the cand.polit. degree in political science at th ...

, former editor of the finance magazine ''

Dine Penger ''Dine Penger'' (''Your Money'' in English) is a private Norwegian monthly finance magazine. The magazine is based in Oslo. History and profile ''Dine Penger'' was established in 1983 by Carl Johan Berg and Carsten O. Five who were also edito ...

''. They have two children. In early 2014, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and began treatment for it. While her initial prognosis was good, the illness worsened, and in 2016 she had to cancel several appearances. Five died on 19 February 2017 from breast cancer, aged 65.

Political career

Five was member of the municipal council of

1975–81 and then served as deputy leader of the executive committee for Education. From 1977 to 1979 she was the first female President of the

Norwegian Young Conservatives Norwegian Young Conservatives (Norwegian: Unge Høyres Landsforbund, UHL, normally referred to as Unge Høyre) is the Norwegian youth party of the Conservative Party. Its ideology is liberal conservatism Liberal conservatism is a political ...

. She was a member of the Norwegian parliament, the

Storting 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 bas ...

, from 1981 to 1997. She was Deputy Chairwoman of the Conservative Opposition 1986–1989, and again 1990–1991. From 1982 to 1988 she also served as Deputy Party Chairwoman. She served as Minister of Trade and Shipping in the

Cabinet Syse Syse's Cabinet was a minority centre-right Conservative, Centre, Christian Democrat Government of Norway. It succeeded the Labour Second cabinet Brundtland after the 1989 election, and sat between 16 October 1989 and 3 November 1990. It was rep ...

from 1989 to 1990. In 1991 she was elected chairwoman of the Conservative Party, succeeding

Jan P. Syse (25 November 1930 – 17 September 1997) was a Norwegian lawyer and politician from the Conservative Party. He was the 31st Prime Minister of Norway from 1989 to 1990. He also served as the minister of Industry from 1983 to 1985. Syse was the pr ...

, but resigned after four years in 1994.Kaci Kullmann Five
, ''

Norsk biografisk leksikon is the largest Norwegian biographical encyclopedia. The first edition (NBL1) was issued between 1921 and 1983, including 19 volumes and 5,100 articles. It was published by Aschehoug with economic support from the state. bought the rights to ...

''; accessed 20 February 2017.

After politics

After leaving parliament in 1997, Five served as managing director in

Aker RGI Aker ASA is a Norwegian industrial investment company with ownership interests concentrated in oil and gas, renewable energy and green technologies, maritime assets, marine biotechnology, and industrial software. The company is listed on Oslo St ...

until 2001, and since 2002 remained active as an independent consultant. She was a member of the Board of Directors of several large companies and organisations, including Statoil, Norway's largest petroleum company, Scheiblers Legacy, SOS Kinderdorf Norway and Radio Channel P4.

Nobel Prize roles

Kaci Kullmann Five was elected by the Storting as a deputy member of the

, which awards the

, for the term 2000–03. In 2003, she was elected as one of the five regular members and was reelected up until her death in 2017. In March 2015, she was elected by the committee as its new chairperson, succeeding

Thorbjørn Jagland Thorbjørn Jagland (born Thorbjørn Johansen; , 5 November 1950) is a Norwegian politician from the Labour Party. He served as the secretary general of the Council of Europe from 2009 to 2019. He served as the 32nd prime minister of Norway from ...

, marking the first time in the history of the 1900 founded committee that the incumbent chairman was replaced without retiring deliberately. From 2009 until 2017, she was one of the seven regular board members of the Sweden-based

, which has the overall responsibility for all the five

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

s. As a member of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, she was involved in the decisions to award the Nobel Peace Prize to, among others,

Shirin Ebadi Shirin Ebadi ( fa, شيرين عبادى, Širin Ebādi; born 21 June 1947) is an Iranian political activist, lawyer, a former judge and human rights activist and founder of Defenders of Human Rights Center in Iran. On 10 October 2003, Ebadi wa ...

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic Part ...

Martti Ahtisaari Martti Oiva Kalevi Ahtisaari (; born 23 June 1937) is a Finnish politician, the tenth president of Finland (1994–2000), a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and a United Nations diplomat and mediator noted for his international peace work. Ahtisa ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

, Liu Xiaobo,

Juan Manuel Santos Juan Manuel Santos Calderón (; born 10 August 1951) is a Colombian politician who was the President of Colombia from 2010 to 2018. He was the sole recipient of the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize. An economist by profession and a journalist by trade, ...

, and the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

. She praised Thorbjørn Jagland for his leadership of the Nobel committee and stated that she supported all the prizes awarded when Jagland was chairman. She harshly criticized the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

over its treatment of Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo; she demanded that the Chinese communist regime releases Liu Xiaobo and "stops persecuting his wife."Kaci Kullmann Five langer ut mot Kina "Kaci Kullmann Five harshly criticizes China"

nrk.no NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the largest ...

; accessed 20 February 2017.

Publications

*''Erfaringer med etableringsloven''.

Cand.polit. Candidate (Latin ''candidatus'' or ''candidata'') is the name of various academic degrees, chiefly in Scandinavia, the Soviet Union, the Netherlands and Belgium. In Scandinavia, it is a higher professional-level degree usually corresponding to 5– ...

dissertation in political science, University of Oslo, 1981. *''Det nye Europa'', with

Jan Petersen Jan Petersen (born 11 June 1946, in Oslo) is a Norwegian politician for the Conservative Party. Petersen was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Akershus in 1981, and was re-elected on six occasions. He had previously served as a deputy re ...

. Oslo: Conservative Party of Norway, 1990. *''Avslutningstale på Høyres landsmøte 1991''. Oslo: Conservative Party of Norway, 1991. *"Norges plass i europeisk samarbeid". In: ''Norsk militært tidsskrift'', no. 12, 1992.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Five, Kaci Kullmann 1951 births 2017 deaths Chairpersons of the Norwegian Nobel Committee Members of the Storting Ministers of Trade and Shipping of Norway University of Oslo alumni Bærum politicians Women members of the Storting Leaders of the Conservative Party (Norway) 20th-century Norwegian politicians Deaths from cancer in Norway Deaths from breast cancer Women government ministers of Norway