Øberg, Jan

1951 Born in Aarhus, Denmark, Danish citizen.1969 School leaving certificate from Aarhus Cathedral School. 1970-71 Military service, partly civilian. 1971-72 Studies in sociology at University of Copenhagen, moved to Sweden. 1976 "Filosofie kandidatexamen" at University of Lund, Sweden comprising courses in sociology, economic history and Third World studies. 1981 "Filosofie doktorsexamen" (PhD) 1981 with the dissertation "Myter om vor sikkerhed. En kritik af dansk forsvarspolitik i et udviklingsperspektiv" (Myths of Our Security. A Critical Analysis of Denmark's Defence Policies in a Development Perspective).

Positions

1980-1983 Co-director of Lund University Peace Research Institute (LUPRI). 1980-89 Member of the editorial board of Journal of Peace Research, Oslo.1981- Member of the Danish government's Commission on Security and Disarmament Affairs (SNU). 1981-1987 Member of the board of the Danish Peace Foundation, 1985-1987 its secretary-general. 1983-1989 Director and "forskarassistent" at Lund University Peace Research Institute (LUPRI). 1989 Appointed associate professor ("docent") by the social science faculty of the University of Lund, then leaving the university. 1985-… Co-founder and director of the Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research (TFF), an independent non-profit research center in Lund, Sweden. 1990-91 Visiting professor of political science at the International Christian University (I.C.U.) in Tokyo, teaching three General Education and two Advanced Study courses in peace and development studies. 1991-…Head of the TFF conflict-mitigation teams to ex-Yugoslavia and Georgia. 1995 (3 months) Visiting professor at the Graduate School of Law, Chuo University, Tokyo. 1996-97 Lecturer at Sarajevo University and NGO courses on confict understanding throughut former Yugosavia.

Other positions and awards

1985 listed in Marquis Who's Who. 1980-…Member of IPRA, 1993 Member of EuPRA. 1993 Member of Scientific Committee of IUPIP, International University for Peoples' Initiative for Peace, in Rovereto, Italy. 1994 Co-founder and adviser to the Danish Centre for Conflict resolution. Awarded the Buddhist Soka University's Award of Highest Honour in 1992. Honorary doctoral degree, soka University, Tokyo 1996.

Production 1970-1997

750 published works - books, papers, book chapters, research reports, journal articles, newspaper articles, project descriptions, editorials, reviews. Of these around 100 - some 3600 pages - are purely academic and published as such (list available upon request). More than 800 public lectures, radio programmes, panel debates in some ten countries besides university teaching. Participation in some 90 academic conferences.

Main academic books

Energy for a Better Society (in Danish), 1976, 109 pp. Myths of Our Security (in Danish) 1981, Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke, Copenhagen 330 pp. In Defence of a Nuclear-Free World (author and editor), Wahlström & Widstrand, Stockholm 1983. Developing Security and Securing Development. An Essay on Militarism and Peace, Vindrose, Copenhagen 1983, Pax Gothenburg 1986, 338 pp. Winning Peace. Strategies and Ethics for a Nuclear-Free World (co-author with Dietrich Fischer and Wilhelm Nolte), Dreisam Verlag, Federal Republic, Switzerland and Austria 1987, Vindrose, Denmark 1988,Taylor & Francis, United States, Pax, Sweden 1990. Surviving Together. The Olof Palme Lectures on Common Security, co-edited with Radmila Nakarada, Dartmouth Publishing Company, 1989. A United Nations of the Future, TFF Statement V, 1991 (50 pp (main author). After Yugoslavia - What? TFF Conflict-Mitigation Series 1991, 50 pp (co-author). Nordic Security in the 1990s. Options in a Changing Europe, Pinter Publishers, London 1991 (editor and contributor), 321 pp. Numerous analytical reports and book chapters on ex-Yugoslavia since 1991.

Forthcoming books (working titles)

"Deterrence - Punishment, Anthropo-centrism, Absurd Theatre and Patriarchy". Editing and co-writing a book about Gandhi and with Gandhi texts. Works on international conflict-mitigation field studies. A study on the dissolution and future of Yugoslavia.

Current research objectives and interests

Gandhi, alternative defence, conflict-resolution, conflict-mitigation - theory and practise, world order, alternative economics and development, reforms of the UN, world images and peace thinking, postwar reconstruction, global conflict-management.

Teaching experience

Annually course director of a one-year undergraduate course programme, a 2-4 months postgraduate course and a 3 months core curriculum courses in peace and security studies during his tenure at Lund University. Director of international courses in Spain and Yugoslavia during the 1980s. Teaching five courses in Japan 1990-91. Extensive public lecturing. Teaching an international summer course in Italy every year. Three courses plus seminars at three universities in Japan 1995. 1996-97 teaches courses with NGOs in all parts of former Yugoslavia.

Administrative experience

Co-director of LUPRI from 1981 and director from 1983-89. Founder and director of the TFF since 1985. Secretary-General of the Danish Peace Foundation 1985-87. Main responsible for 10 national and international symposia, directing several international courses and responsible for a series of international, interdisciplinary research projects.

Residence and address

Lives in Lund with his wife and TFF co-founder, sociologist Christina Spaennar and two children, Joen and Matilda. Vegagatan 25, 224 57 Lund, Sweden.

Telephone +46 46-145909
Fax +46 46-144512
E-mail tff@transnational.org
TFF website