Silently Disciplining Research
By Reseach Professor Emeritus at Prio, Ola Tunander, Modern Times, Ny Tid, Whistleblower supplement, March 6, 2021
Researchers who question the legitimacy of US wars, seem to experience being ousted from their positions in research and media institutions. The example presented here is from the Institute for Peace Research in Oslo (PRIO), an institution which historically has had researchers critical of wars of aggression – and who can hardly be labeled friends of nuclear arms.
A researcher is said to seek objectivity and truth. But he or she learns to select their research topics and arrive at conclusions in accordance with what the authorities and management expect, and this despite the fact that academic freedom is codified in Norway through the “freedom to express oneself publicly”, “freedom to promote new ideas” and “freedom to choose method and material». In today’s societal discourse, freedom of speech seems to be reduced to the right to offend other people’s ethnicity or religion.