Johan Galtung facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Johan Galtung
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Galtung in 2012
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| Born | 24 October 1930 Oslo, Norway
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| Died | 17 February 2024 (aged 93) Bærum . Norway
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| Alma mater | University of Oslo |
| Known for | Principal founder of peace and conflict studies |
| Awards | Right Livelihood Award (1987) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Sociology, peace and conflict studies |
| Institutions | Columbia University, University of Oslo, Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) |
| Founder and Director of Peace Research Institute Oslo | |
| In office 1959–1969 |
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| Succeeded by | Asbjørn Eide |
Johan Vincent Galtung (24 October 1930 – 17 February 2024) was a Norwegian sociologist and the principal founder of the discipline of peace and conflict studies. He was the main founder of the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) in 1959 and served as its first director until 1970. He also established the Journal of Peace Research in 1964.
In 1969, he was appointed to the world's first chair in peace and conflict studies, at the University of Oslo. He resigned his Oslo professorship in 1977 and thereafter held professorships at several other universities; from 1993 to 2000 he taught as Distinguished Professor of Peace Studies at the University of Hawaii. He was the Tun Mahathir Professor of Global Peace at the International Islamic University Malaysia until 2015.
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Background
Galtung was born in Oslo. He earned the cand. real. degree in mathematics at the University of Oslo in 1956, and a year later completed the mag. art. (PhD) degree in sociology at the same university. Galtung received the first of thirteen honorary doctorates in 1975.
Galtung's father and paternal grandfather were both physicians. The Galtung name has its origins in Hordaland, where his paternal grandfather was born. Nevertheless, his mother, Helga Holmboe, was born in central Norway, in Trøndelag, while his father was born in Østfold, in the south. Galtung was married twice, and had two children by his first wife Ingrid Eide, Harald Galtung and Andreas Galtung, and two by his second wife Fumiko Nishimura, Irene Galtung and Fredrik Galtung.
Galtung experienced World War II in German-occupied Norway, and as a 12-year-old saw his father arrested by the Nazis. By 1951, he was already a committed peace mediator, and elected to do 18 months of social service in place of his obligatory military service. After 12 months, Galtung insisted that the remainder of his social service be spent in activities relevant to peace.
Galtung died in Bærum on 17 February 2024, at the age of 93.
Career
Upon receiving his mag. art. degree, Galtung moved to Columbia University, in New York City, where he taught for five semesters as an assistant professor in the department of sociology. In 1959, Galtung returned to Oslo, where he founded the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). He was the institute's director until 1969.
In 1964, Galtung led PRIO to establish the first academic journal devoted to Peace Studies: the Journal of Peace Research. In the same year, he assisted in the founding of the International Peace Research Association. In 1969, he left PRIO for a position as professor of peace and conflict research at the University of Oslo, a position he held until 1978.
Galtung was the director general of the International University Centre in Dubrovnik and helped to found and lead the World Future Studies Federation. He has held visiting positions at other universities, including Santiago, Chile, the United Nations University in Geneva, and at Columbia, Princeton and the University of Hawaii. In 2014, he was appointed as the first Tun Mahathir Professor of Global Peace at the International Islamic University Malaysia.
Economist and fellow peace researcher Kenneth Boulding has said of Galtung that his "output is so large and so varied that it is hard to believe that it comes from a human". He was a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.
In 1993, he co-founded TRANSCEND: A Peace Development Environment Network. In 1987, he was given the Right Livelihood Award.
Work and views
Conflict Triangle
In Galtung's 1969 paper, "Violence, Peace and Peace Research", he presented his theory of the Conflict Triangle, a framework used in the study of peace and conflict, with the purpose of defining the three key elements of violence that form this "triangle." The theory is based on the principle that peace must be defined by widely accepted social goals, and that any state of peace is characterized by the absence of violence. When a conflict has features of all three areas of violence, the result is a more consolidated, static state of violence in a social system, which may include a conflict or a nation-state, whereas the absence of these three typologies of violence results in peace.
Peacebuilding
Galtung first conceptualized peacebuilding by calling for systems that would create sustainable peace. The peacebuilding structures needed to address the root causes of conflict and support local capacity for peace management and conflict resolution. Galtung has held several significant positions in international research councils and has been an advisor to several international organisations. From 2004 until his death, he was a member of the Advisory Council of the Committee for a Democratic UN.
Selected awards and recognitions
- Dr honoris causa, University of Tampere, 1975, peace studies
- Dr honoris causa, University of Cluj, 1976, future studies
- Dr honoris causa, Uppsala University, 1987, Faculty of Social Sciences
- Dr honoris causa, Soka University, Tokyo, 1990, peace/buddhism
- Dr honoris causa, University of Osnabrück, 1995, peace studies
- Dr honoris causa, University of Torino, 1998, sociology of law
- Dr honoris causa, FernUniversität Hagen, 2000, philosophy
- Dr honoris causa, University of Alicante, 2002, sociology
- Dr honoris causa, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, 2006, law
- Dr honoris causa, Complutense University, Madrid, 2017, politics and sociology
- Honorary professor, University of Alicante, Alicante, 1981
- Honorary professor, Free University of Berlin, 1984–1993
- Honorary professor, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 1986
- Honorary professor, Witten/Herdecke University, Witten, 1993
- Distinguished professor of peace studies, University of Hawaii, 1993-
- John Perkins University Distinguished Visiting Professor, 2005-
- Right Livelihood Award, 1987
- First recipient of the Humanist Prize of the Norwegian Humanist Association, 1988
- Jamnalal Bajaj International Award for Promoting Gandhian Values, 1993
- Brage Prize, 2000
- First Morton Deutsch Conflict Resolution Award, 2001
- Honorary Prize of the Norwegian Sociological Association, 2001
- Premio Hidalgo, Madrid, 2005
- Augsburg Golden Book of Peace, 2006
- Member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters
- Honorary member of the Green Party, 2009
- Erik Bye Memorial Prize, 2011
Selected works
Galtung published more than a thousand articles and over a hundred books.
- Statistisk hypotesepröving (Statistical hypothesis testing, 1953)
- Gandhis politiske etikk (Gandhi's political ethics, 1955, with philosopher Arne Næss)
- Theory and Methods of Social Research (1967)
- Violence, Peace and Peace Research (1969)
- Members of Two Worlds (1971)
- Fred, vold og imperialisme (Peace, violence and imperialism, 1974)
- Peace: Research – Education – Action (1975)
- Learning from China? (1977, with Fumiko Nishimura)
- Europe in the Making (1989)
- Global Glasnost: Toward a New World Information and Communication Order? (1992, with Richard C. Vincent)
- Global Projections of Deep-Rooted U.S Pathologies (1996)
- Peace By Peaceful Means: Peace and Conflict, Development and Civilization (1996)
- Johan uten land. På fredsveien gjennom verden (Johan without land. On the Peace Path Through the World, 2000, autobiography for which he won the Brage Prize)
- 50 Years: 100 Peace and Conflict Perspectives (2008)
- Democracy – Peace – Development (2008, with Paul D. Scott)
- 50 Years: 25 Intellectual Landscapes Explored (2008)
- Globalizing God: Religion, Spirituality and Peace (2008, with Graeme MacQueen)
See also
In Spanish: Johan Galtung para niños
