Johan Galtung

Born 1930, one of the world' leading professors of peace studies and undoubtedly its most prolific writer and lecturer. Has worked at dozens of universities and research institutes - Oslo, Dubrovnik, Berlin, Santiago, Princeton, Geneva, Hawaii, Kyoto, Schlaining, Witten/Herdecke, Tromsoe...
He established the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO) in 1959 and the Journal of Peace Research in 1964. He has published hundreds of articles and, by 2005, some 120 books, including "Human Rights in Another Key", "Choose Peace" and "Peace By Peaceful Means. Peace and Conflict, Development and Civilization."
Galtung has been a consultant to several UN agencies. He holds numerous honorary degrees and awards, among them the Right Livelihood Award.
Over the last years Galtung has developed TRANSCEND, a Development and Peace Network with about 100 scholars and activists around the globe. Many of them, such as Dietrich Fischer are Associates of TFF too.
Galtung is married to Fumiko Nishimura and they live a "transnational" life moving between Kyoto, U.S., France, Spain and Norway.
More about Galtung on Wikipedia.

Galtung, Wiberg and Oberg will publish a book on Yugoslavia in 2007, summarizing the breakdown and the missed opportunities for peace and justice there. In it they build on their combined 110 man-years of experience from that region.

Johan Galtung and Jan Oberg first met in 1974 when Galtung was director of the Inter-University Centre in Dubrovnik, IUC, where Oberg was a student.

He joined TFF as adviser when it was set up in 1985.

Address	51 Bois Chatton, F-01210 Versonnex, France
Phone	+33-450-42 73 06 Mobile +33 6 0735 9724
Fax	+33-450-42 75 06
E-mail	galtung@transcend.org
Website	http://www.transcend.org

Articles by Johan Galtung

The most recent on top

Johan Galtung on BBC, December 12, 2009
Why Obama does not deserve that Prize and why the Nobel Committee violates the will of Alfred Nobel

Johan Galtung in Ahmedabad
Nov 30, 2009
Incredible India...they say
Turning its back on Gandhi, selling itself to the US, facing new conflicts - but there are also solutions all the way around.

November 9, 2009
Johan Galtung in Seoul speaking on the Eastern Cold War that we always forget in the West...
The trilateral conflict USA-North Kore-South Korea
An analysis in the light of the Fall of the Wall.

Johan Galtung, October 26, 2009
China and the global economic crisis

Johan Galtung, Transcend Media, October 5, 2009
Gandhi and Mao - two giants compared

Johan Galtung, Transcend Media Service, October 2 - Gandhi Day
The tide is turning - away from the West
On the recent UN General Assembly, on Obama, Qaddafi, Chavéz, Israel and China. A fascinating bird's eye view contrasting the uniform coverage in the Western mainstream media of that same event.

Johan Galtung, August 30, 2009
More creativity, please!
On Michelin meals, the Japanese election result and the boredom over much political.

Johan Galtung, July 6, 2009
Honduras and Iran: What is going on?

Johan Galtung, Transcend, April 6, 2009
G20. NATO. And the world
The West is behind. Do not be surprised if the rest of the world is not waiting, but finds its own way.

Johan Galtung, March 26, 2009
The Energy-Environment-Development Triad
Concluding talk, Energy Pact Conference, Geneva, March 16-17 2009.

Johan Galtung, September 29, 2008
The U.S. economic crisis: 10 proposals

Johan Galtung, September 26, 2008 - TFF Video Channel
Can Japan become sovereign and peaceful?
Japan's deep culture, its relations with its neighbours, why it is a client state of the U.S., and how it can change and become a factor for world peace

Johan Galtung, September 24, 2008 - TFF Video Channel
Galtung's "True Worlds" - As Told Between Two Planes
On the world after the U.S. Empire has gone, on civilizations, global governance, the UN - and the coming Muslim-Hindu conflict

Johan Galtung, February 21, 2008
Kosova's independence - a crime against the Serbs and a crippling of the United Nations

Johan Galtung, at the UN, October 2, 2007
Gandhi's struggle against imperialism: Five points
Point 1: Never fear dialogue
Point 2: Never fear conflict: more opportunity than danger
Point 3: Know History or you are doomed to repeat it (Burke)
Point 4: Image the future or you will never get there
Point 5: While fighting occupation clean up your own house!
One of the most enlightening speeches at the UN for years...

Johan Galtung, March 22, 2007
Learning from Gandhi - Towards a nonviolent world order
Presented at the Satyagraha Centenary in New Delhi, the author presents a fascinating vision of the world atructured around regions and with a fading West. Two important Appendices about Kashmir and about why Gandhi did not receive the Nobel Peace Prize (like a few others).

Johan Galtung, Jan Öberg & Håkan Wiberg,
Aftonbladet, 5:e mars 2007
"Ohållbart om Kosovo"
Ahtisaaris plan är orättvis och kommer att leda till ökat våld. Varför är Martti Ahtisaaris så kallade medling om Kosovo och presstäckningen av denna så partisk och så lite objektiv?

Galtung, Øberg & Wiberg,
Jyllands-Posten, 28. februar 2007
En uholdbar plan
Martti Ahtisaaris forslag til Kosovo-provinsens fremtidige status er fredsforhindrende, mener forfatterne, der er tilknyttet den Transnationale Stiftelse for Freds- og Fremtidsforskning, TFF. De har fulgt udviklingen på Balkan i over 30 år.

Johan Galtung, January 5, 2007
A mini theory of peace

Johan Galtung, August 23, 2006
What does professionalization in peace research mean?
A path-breaking analysis - with autobiographical inputs - of how to move beyond the dichotomy between government "Realism" and civil society organizations/peace movements "Idealism." Deals also with the code of conduct and accountability of the peace reseacrcher/worker and the parallel with the health worker.

Johan Galtung, August 4, 2006
The Middle East and the EU as a solution model
There are three building blocks - and not at all unrealistic. There are moderate and legitimate demands and extremist demands; the latter must be substituted on all sides. But most important: there is a model for a sustainable solution: that of the European Community or Union. Thus, we need a new comprehensive approach beyond today's rather naive proposals. The road to security for all goes through peace!

Johan Galtung, 26. juni 2006
Hva gør Norge i Afghanistan?
Fem gode punkter ved en mæglingssession i Peshawar kontrasteret af en forudsigelse: "Stabilitet kan man trygt se bort fra. At den hundre år gamle krigen mellom det angloamerikansk-kristne og det arabisk-islamske skal stilne av kan man også trygt se bort fra, unntatt overfor Spania med den eneste vestlige politiker med klarsyn, Zapatero. Heroinen vil fortsatt nå frem til vestens gater. Pengene vil fortsatt flyte inn i de korruptes lommer..."

Johan Galtung, June 21, 2006
USA & UK versus Iran: A Transcend perspective
Diagnosis, prognosis and therapy: "The keys to acceptable and sustainable ways out of this conflict are in the subtexts, not in the texts. Why is the obvious road toward a solution not even discussed?

Johan Galtung, TFF Associate, July 15, 2005
Human rights and the illegal US/UK attack on Iraq
By some counts the attack on Iraq is US aggression no. 239 after the Thomas Jefferson start in the early 19th century and no. 69 after the Second world war; with between 12 and 16 million killed in that period alone. All of it is in flagrant contradiction of the most basic human rights, like the "right to life, liberty and security of persons" (Universal Declaration, UD:3) and the condemnation of the "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" (UD:5).

Johan Galtung, TFF Associate, July 14, 2005
The Korean Peninsula: From the DMZ to a Zone of Peace
What world conflict formations are the two divided Koreas part of? How can we envisage them coming closer to each other? Can the present 2+4 talks be supported by a parallel process? And how can today's De-Militarised Zone be turned into a Zone of Peace useful for the Koreans and everyone else? Compared with the general reporting in our media, Galtung's speech offers much richer perspectives, opens up for broader understanding and convinces us that there is a lot of constructive things that can be done.

PressInfo 223, July 13, 2005
Economic Boycott as Nonviolence
Economic boycott was very important in Gandhi's way of fighting the U.K. Empire. Any boycott of the United States should be informed by Gandhian nonviolence. The purpose is to reduce and eliminate the U.S. military, economic, political and cultural choking grip on the world, not to kill U.S. children by hitting the U.S. economy. By Johan Galtung.

PressInfo 223, 27. juli, 2005
Økonomisk boykot som ikkevold
Økonomisk boykot var helt central i Gandhis kamp mod det britiske imperium. Enhver boykot af USA må inspireres af gandhiansk ikkevold. Formålet må være at ramme det amerikanske militær, økonomien, politikken og det kulturelle kvælertag om verden, som imperiet har - derimod ikke at dræbe dets børn eller skabe problemer for befolkningen. Af Johan Galtung.

PressInfo 223, 27. juli, 2005
Ekonomisk boykott som ickevåld
Ekonomisk boykott var hel centralt i Gandhis kamp mod det britiska imperiet. Varje boykott av USA bör inspireras av gandhiaskt tänkande. Syftet är att minska och avlägsna USA:s kvävande militära, politiska och kulturella grepp om världen. Målet är USA-imperiet, inte republiken USA.

Johan Galtung, TFF Associate, June 4, 2005
Peace Studies - A Ten Point Primer
Historic! A concise, handy introduction to peace studies, a lecture at the histoic first meeting ever in China, at Nanjin University, on peace studies.

Solana's - and the EU's? - foreign policy: A non-starter

State Terrorism/Terrorism, USA/Iraq, Israel/Palestine Right Now

Human Needs, Humanitarian Intervention, Human Security and the War in Iraq

On the Coming Decline and Fall of the US Empire
The fall of the empire (posted on Transcend.org)

Towards the Abolition of Nuclear Weaponry: A Theological Approach

USA-Iraq: There are Alternatives! And Resistance is Possible

The Iraq Conflict 2002: A TRANSCEND Perspective

September 11/October 7, 2001 and its Aftermath: Three Discourses

September 11, 2001: Diagnosis, Prognosis, Therapy

Tid for oppjør med Norges skam
(med Jørgen Johansen)

Velkommen til Kald Krig II

Review of Zelim Skurbaty's "As If People Mattered"

The Oslo Accords: a flawed process. The TRANSCEND perspective as a constructive alternative

Northern Ireland - Some dialogue-based reflections (with Terence Duffy)

The Tokyo-Pyongyang negotiations - some reflections on reconciliation

From demilitarised zones to zones of peace

The World in Economic Crisis