Øyvind Tønnesson

I am coordinator of the undergraduate program of History at Agder University. I have a strong commitment to the idea that historical research and education is important both as a source of identity and critical perspectives in any community, from the local to the global.

My own teaching covers modern international history, broadly speaking. I am particularly interested in the making and development of international organizations in the 20thcentury, and the ideas and debates that both inspired, underpinned and resulted from that process. 

At Agder University I teach the courses Hi-115, Conflict and Peace. Ethical and Historical Perspectives and Hi-117, The World and Norway During the 20th Century. Presently, I am planning a new course on international organization in historical perspective.

I took part in a project on the history of the chemical corporation Norsk Hydro, 1995-97, and on The (assumed) Norwegian Peace Tradition (2005-2012) at the University of Oslo.

I am presently a member of the History section of Institute of Religion, Philosophy and History at Agder University and associated with the project The Invention of International Bureaucracy.The League of Nations and the Creation of International Public Administration,c. 1920-1960,at Aarhus University, Denmark. In the latter project I am studying how NGOs and transnational networks influenced the construction and agenda of the League of Nations.

I also work on a book with working title Christian L. Lange and the Cultural History of Internationalism, partly based on my PhD thesis,With Christian L. Lange as a Prism: A Study of Transnational Peace Politics(Univ. Of Oslo, 2013)