Stein Dorenfeldt Tønnesson (born 2 December 1953), is a Norwegian historian.

Career

He was the director of the

Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) The Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO; no, Institutt for fredsforskning) is a private research institution in peace and conflict studies, based in Oslo, Norway, with around 100 employees. It was founded in 1959 by a group of Norwegian researcher ...

from 2001 to 2009, when he was replaced by

Kristian Berg Harpviken Kristian Berg Harpviken (born 27 December 1961) is a Norwegian sociologist and researcher, and since 2009 director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). Harpviken is foremost known for his competence on Afghanistan, where he has travelled ...

. Stein Tønnesson stays on at PRIO as a Research Professor, while at the

United States Institute of Peace The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) is an American federal institution tasked with promoting conflict resolution and prevention worldwide. It provides research, analysis, and training to individuals in diplomacy, mediation, and other pea ...

(USIP) as

Jennings Randolph Jennings Randolph (March 8, 1902May 8, 1998) was an American politician from West Virginia. A Democrat, he was most notable for his service in the United States House of Representatives from 1933 to 1947 and the United States Senate from 1958 to ...

Senior Fellow 2010-11. Educated at the

University of Aarhus Aarhus University ( da, Aarhus Universitet, abbreviated AU) is a public research university with its main campus located in Aarhus, Denmark. It is the second largest and second oldest university in Denmark. The university is part of the Coimbra Gr ...

and 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 univers ...

, he received his dr. philos. in

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

from the University of Oslo in 1991. Tønnesson's foremost research efforts have been revolution and

war in Vietnam The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

national identity National identity is a person's identity or sense of belonging to one or more states or to one or more nation, nations. It is the sense of "a nation as a cohesive whole, as represented by distinctive traditions, culture, and language". National i ...

South-East Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

, the South China Sea conflict, and Norwegian

sports history The history of sports extends back to the Ancient world. The physical activity that developed into sports had early links with ritual, warfare and entertainment. Study of the history of sport can teach lessons about social changes and about ...

. Tønnesson has also worked as a journalist. His interests the past decade has been in particular global history,

globalization Globalization, or globalisation (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), see spelling differences), is the process of foreign relation ...

and the decades of relative peace in south east Asia since 1979. Stein Tønnesson has worked as Professor of Human Development Studies at the

Centre for Development and the Environment The Centre for Development and the Environment ( no, Senter for utvikling og miljø, SUM) is a research institute which is part of the University of Oslo. Its focus areas are international development and environmental studies. History The Centre ...

(SUM) at the

, and has also been a senior research fellow at the Nordic Institute for Asia Studies (NIAS) in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Personal life

He is a son of professor of history, Kåre Tønnesson. He grew up 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 electora ...

and attended

Oslo Cathedral School Schola Osloensis, known in Norwegian as Oslo Katedralskole (''Oslo Cathedral School'') and more commonly as "Katta",

References

External links

Cliostein
(Tønnesson's web site)
Homepage at PRIO
1953 births Living people Writers from Bærum Norwegian journalists 20th-century Norwegian historians Aarhus University alumni University of Oslo alumni Academic staff of the University of Oslo Writers from Oslo Historians of the Vietnam War {{Norway-historian-stub