Norwegian Institute of International Affairs or NUPI is a Norwegian government agency

Etat

Etat is a Norwegian state-, county- or municipal agency. An Etat is a subdivision of the administration, which has been given responsibility for a special area. An agency does not have a board of directors, but it does have a director, appointed by the subordinate organization. Normally decisions...

 and research organisation based in Oslo.

NUPI's Background

The Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) was established by the Norwegian Parliament in 1959 in order to promote a better understanding of international issues in Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. NUPI has sought to achieve this by undertaking a wide range of research activities and by disseminating information on international issues. The Institute has an independent position in studying matters of relevance to Norwegian foreign policy

Foreign policy

A country's foreign policy, also called the foreign relations policy, consists of self-interest strategies chosen by the state to safeguard its national interests and to achieve its goals within international relations milieu. The approaches are strategically employed to interact with other countries...

 and economic relations.

As a small nation, Norway depends strongly on stable and open ties to the rest of the world. Consequently, the understanding of international relations

International relations

International relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...

 and the constantly evolving international economy is a vital prerequisite when the foreign, as well as domestic policy of Norway is to be shaped. With 50 years of experience, NUPI is one of Norway’s leading independent centres for research and information on political and economic issues.

Key Figures

• a total of 73 person-years, of which 38,3 from researchers and 8,3 from student research scholars
• approximately 70 staff members and student research scholars
• turnover: NOK 65.5 mill.(2009)
• 30 internal publications (as books and various NUPI series) (2009)
• 35 articles in journals with referee, 16 international journals (2009)
• approximately 90 seminars and conferences organised in 2009

Current Fellows and Employees

Jan Egeland

Jan Egeland

Jan Egeland was the United Nations Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator from June 2003 to December 2006. Egeland was appointed by Secretary-General Kofi Annan and succeeded Kenzo Oshima...

Espen Barth Eide

Espen Barth Eide

Espen Barth Eide is Norway's Minister of Defense. He is a political scientist and a politician for the Labor Party.Eide went to high school at the Oslo Cathedral School, and graduated from the University of Oslo with the cand.polit. degree in 1993...

Indra Overland

Indra Overland

Indra Overland is a Norwegian specialist on the former Soviet Union. He did his Ph.D. at the Scott Polar Research Institute of the University of Cambridge, UK, and has later published on a broad range of issues related to energy politics, aid and indigenous peoples in the post-Soviet area. The Ph.D...

Geir Flikke

Geir Flikke

Geir Flikke is a Norwegian political scientist.He graduated from the University of Oslo with the cand.philol. degree in 1993, and took the dr.art. degree in 2006 with the paper The Failure of a Movement: The Rise and Decline of Democratic Russia 1989-1992...

Nina Graeger

Sverre Lodgaard

Sverre Lodgaard

Sverre Lodgaard is a Norwegian political scientist and politician for the Labour Party.He graduated from the University of Oslo with the cand.polit. degree in 1971...

Iver B. Neumann

Iver B. Neumann

Iver Brynild Neumann is a Norwegian political scientist and social anthropologist. He is a professor of Russian studies at the University of Oslo and has been research director at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs since 2008.Neumann obtained his first DPhil in Politics from Oxford...

Anders Sjaastad

Torild Skard

Torild Skard

Torild Skard is a Norwegian psychologist and researcher, feminist, politician for the Socialist Left Party, civil servant and former high-ranking United Nations official . She served as a Member of Parliament, President of its upper chamber and Deputy Chair of the Standing Committee on Justice...

John Kristen Skogan

John Kristen Skogan

John Kristen Skogan is a Norwegian political scientist and politician for the Conservative Party.He graduated from the University of Oslo with the mag.art. degree in 1971...

Former Researchers

Arne Olav Brundtland

Tore Linné Eriksen

Tore Linné Eriksen

Tore Linné Eriksen is a Norwegian historian. His fields of study include global history, development studies and African history, especially focusing on Southern Africa.-Early life and career:...

Marianne Heiberg

Marianne Heiberg

Dr. Marianne Heiberg was born in Oslo, Norway, and received her education in the United States and Great Britain as well as at the University of Oslo, where she graduated in 1971 with a degree in social sciences....

Johan Jørgen Holst

Johan Jørgen Holst

Johan Jørgen Holst was a Norwegian politician representing Labour, best known for his involvement with the Oslo Accords....

John Sanness

John Sanness

John Christian Munthe Sanness was a Norwegian historian and politician for the Labour Party. He is known as the director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs from 1960 to 1983, professor at the University of Oslo from 1966 to 1983 and chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee from 1979...