Ingrid Eide was one of the group of young, talented Norwegian social scientists who, in 1959, together founded the Peace Research Institute in Oslo (PRIO) initially as a department of the Norwegian Institute for Social Research. At her 75th birthday celebration, she was justifiably noted as one of the “Mothers of PRIO.”
Prior to 1959, she had been studying sociology at Columbia University in New York, where her then husband, Johan Galtung was teaching. On returning to Norway, she obtained her master's degree working on some of the ideas that later became the source of publications focused on students as international linkages for peace. Ingrid Eide remained at PRIO until 1969, when she was appointed to a post at the University of Oslo, a personal connection symbolizing the then close relationships between the University and PRIO.
Eide’s subsequent work and career spanned the worlds of Norwegian politics, political activism, diplomacy and academia. Her interests remained eclectic, and the 2008 collection of some of her major works (edited by her friend and colleague, Mari Holmboe Ruge) contained writings that mirrored her contributions to the study of gender issues, peace, sociology, education, development and the culture of peace. She is perhaps best known for her continued interest in the linkage between women and peace. She is a long standing member of the Norwegian Labour Party, was a representative in the Storting from 1977 to 1985, and between 1973 and 1976, served as State Secretary at the Ministry for Church Affairs and Education.
High points of her international career included becoming head of the UN Development Programme’s “Women and Development” Department, a post she occupied for the years between 1987 and 1989. In 1990, she became involved in a major effort to have her appointed as Secretary to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, and it is to the regret of the entire peace studies and conflict resolution communities that she narrowly lost this race. Subsequently, she took up positions as adviser at the Norwegian Ministry of Culture, and in the International Department of the University of Oslo. In later years, she became active in the Norwegian anti-nuclear campaign, “No to Nuclear Weapons.”
Now in her 80's, Ingrid Eide remains active in the field of women and peace studies, and continues to serve as a model for younger members of the field, not just for her work on peace and gender issues, but for her record of being able to bridge the divide between the worlds of scholarship, activism and policy.
JB/CRM
