Tor Egil Førland (born 5 May 1959) is professor of history 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 ...

Career

Between 2003 and 2004 Førland was Subdean of education at the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Oslo, responsible for implementing the

Quality Reform The Quality Reform was a reform initialized by the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research after recommendation from the '' Mjøs committee'' (1998–2000). It was introduced in 2002–03 and changed the entire system of higher education in N ...

at the faculty. Førland was Head of education and Deputy head of Department of Archaeology, Conservation and History (IAKH) during 2009–2012. Førland has been Head of Department since 2013. As a historian, Førland has specialized in the radicalism of the 1960s and 1970s and in contemporary international history. He has published books and articles on the history of the EU,

European integration European integration is the process of industrial, economic integration, economic, political, legal, social integration, social, and cultural Regional integration, integration of states wholly or partially in Europe or nearby. European integrat ...

the Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of Geopolitics, geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term ''Cold war (term), co ...

and the 1968 protests. Førland has also contributed to the debate on

objectivity Objectivity can refer to: * Objectivity (philosophy), the property of being independent from perception ** Objectivity (science), the goal of eliminating personal biases in the practice of science ** Journalistic objectivity, encompassing fairne ...

and values in

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...

, taking a stance against the postmodern relativization of truth. He has applied the philosopher Peter Railton’s concept of the “ideal explanatory text” to argue that the ideal of objectivity in historiography is attainable.

Select bibliography

* “Cutting the Sixties Down to Size: Conceptualizing, Historicizing, Explaining”. ''Journal for the Study of Radicalism'' 9/2 (2015), pp. 125–148 * “Brought Up to Rebel in the Sixties: Birth Order Irrelevant, Parental Worldview Decisive”. With Trine Rogg Korsvik and Knut-Andreas Christophersen. ''Political Psychology'' 33/6 (2012), pp. 825–838 * ''Cold Economic Warfare: CoCom and the Forging of Export Controls, 1948-1954''. Dordrecht: Republic of Letters Publishing, 2009 * “Historiography without God: A Reply to Gregory”. ''History and Theory'' 47/4 (2008), pp. 520–532 * “Acts of God? Miracles and Scientific Explanation”. ''History and Theory'' 47/4 (2008), pp. 483–494 * “The Ideal Explanatory Text in History: A Plea for Ecumenism”. ''History and Theory'' 43/3 (2004), pp. 321–340 * “Far Out: International History in Norway”. ''Scandinavian Journal of History'' 20/3 (1995), pp. 167–183 * “Bringing It All Back Home or Another Side of Bob Dylan: Midwestern Isolationist”. ''Journal of American Studies'' 26/3 (1992), pp. 337–355 * “‘Selling Firearms to the Indians’: Eisenhower’s Export Control Policy, 1953-54”. ''Diplomatic History'' 15/2 (1991), pp. 221–244 * “‘Economic Warfare’ and ‘Strategic Goods’: A Conceptual Framework for Analyzing COCOM”. ''Journal of Peace Research'' 28/2 (1991), pp. 191–204 * “An Act of Economic Warfare? The Dispute over NATO's Embargo Resolution, 1950-1951”. ''The International History Review'' 12/3 (1990), pp. 490–513

References

External links

Tor Egil Førland′s profile page at the University of Oslo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forland, Tor Egil 1959 births Living people 20th-century Norwegian historians Academic staff of the University of Oslo 21st-century Norwegian historians