The new open access book Livesin Peace Research: The Oslo Stories explains how PRIO, the world's oldest independent peace research institute, was founded and how it survived through crises.
The book does so through the fascinating life stories of peace research veterans, including Johan Galtung, Ingrid Eide, and Mari Holmboe Ruge, who founded PRIO back in 1959. The PRIO researchers and associates tell the stories of their roles in inventing and developing peace research, reflect on their personal experiences with peace and conflict, tell what drove their peace engagement, and discuss the balance sought in the field between academic rigor and the pursuit of peace – a desire for research to have a positive impact.
Most of the chapters are interviews where one peace researcher interviews another. Some are self-reflective essays, while others are memorial essays written about a peace researcher who has passed away. The book presents a lively picture of PRIO's thriving, world-leading research environment and a wealth of conflicting or mutually reinforcing perspectives on war, violence, conflict, conflict management and resolution, negotiations and mediation, peace-making, peacebuilding, and the contested concept of peace.
The book is edited by PRIO Research Professor Stein Tønnesson and published by Springer Singapore. The book is a continuation of PRIO Stories, a project established to celebrate PRIO 60th anniversary back in 2019, which consisted of interviews with prominent PRIOites from the founding of the institute until today.
Read the open access book Lives in Peace Research: The Oslo Stories here.
