What happened to dialogue and diplomacy in the 21st century?

In 1995 Steinar Bryn was appointed head of Dialogue at the new Nansen Center for Peace and Dialogue, which he helped to establish at Nansen Academy in response to the unfolding situation in the former Yugoslavia. The Academy was rooted in the social sciences and humanistic principles advocated by the Polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen after whom it was named. Nansen was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1922 in recognition of his humanitarian work after World War 1, giving half of the prize money to Ukraine and Russia where much of his refugee relief work had been focused.

In the thirty years since the foundation of the Nansen Peace Center, those same humanistic principles are weakening. Where are the new avenues of possibility for meaningful dialogue and mediation in a world where international institutions such as the UN can be sidelined, and where truth and integrity in public life can no longer be relied upon? Steinar gives his perspective on the limitations of traditional methods of dialogue in today’s world, and suggests possible alternative ways of operating in areas of intractable conflict such as Ukraine.

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Steinar Bryn has a PH.D in American Studies from the University of Minnesota. He has been a teacher, director and researcher at the Nansen Academy in Lillehammer, and head of Dialogue at the Nansen Center for Peace and Dialogue for the last 30 years. He is a well-known peace activist in Norway and has years of experience as a dialogue worker in the Balkans, Ukraine and the Middle East. He has been nominated 7 times for the Nobel Peace Prize and received the Norwegian King’s Medal for Humanistic Service in 2024.

This event is hosted by Cambridge Quakers. To find out more about Quakers visit: quaker.org.uk/about-quakers