Abstract
In this opening chapter, co-editors Peter Wallensteen and Armend Bekaj offer a summary of Alva Myrdal’s career in Sweden as well as internationally. Her role as promoter of peace research has left a long-lasting impact in academic and policy circles, not least due to the fact that she helped found the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The chapter is enriched with a personal touch because Prof. Wallensteen shares with the public his own experience when he first met Alva Myrdal in his early youth.
Peter Wallensteen is Senior Professor of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University. He was the first holder of the Dag Hammarskjöld Chair at Uppsala University, 1985–2012 and led the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP), 1978–2015. He has worked on sanctions, mediation and peace agreements. His Understanding Conflict Resolution is now in its 5th edition (2019) and he edited Alva Myrdal in International Affairs in 2003.
Armend Bekaj, Ph.D. is a Researcher with the Alva Myrdal Centre for Nuclear Disarmament, Uppsala University. He combines academic and policy experience on security, peace and conflict. Apart from his work at the Centre, his academic focus has been on exploring the long-term impact of former combatants on democracy and institution-building as a result of their transformation in post-conflict politics.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The editors wish to thank Erik Melander, Director of Alva Myrdal Centre for Nuclear Disarmament and Professor at the Department for Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University, for his valuable comments provided on this chapter.
- 2.
There is considerable writing on this, notably by historians like Yvonne Hirdman, and sociologists, notably Hedvig Ekerwald (see also Chap. 5 in this volume). There is less written on Alva Myrdal’s role and contribution to nuclear disarmament. This book wants to add to that aspect. See also Wallensteen (2003a).
- 3.
Later attention has been brought to the issue of sterilization of mentally challenged, where one can find objectionable quotations from the Myrdals. This was not an important aspect of their advocacy, however, and none of them were involved in government policy in this regard. For references, see footnote 5 in Chap. 5 by Hedvig Ekerwald in this volume.
- 4.
Holmwood (2000).
- 5.
Gunnar Myrdal was Minister for Trade 1945–47; Alva Myrdal was Minister of International Disarmament and Church Affairs 1967–1973.
- 6.
On this see, for instance, Hirdman (1988).
- 7.
This applies only to Sweden and some other countries, notably in the Nordic area.
- 8.
Sluga, Glenda (2014). The Human Story of Development: Alva Myrdal at the UN, 1949–1955. In: Frey, M., Kunkel, S., Unger, C. R. (eds) International Organizations and Development, 1945–1990, pp. 46–74. The Palgrave Macmillan Transnational History Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137437549_3.
- 9.
There was a female ambassador in the 1640s, but that was outside established diplomatic careers. See: Fölster (2010). Myrdal’s appointment created attention and opened a path for women into Swedish diplomacy. Two years later, Agda Rössel became the first Swedish female ambassador to the UN. See Klingvall/Winai Ström (2010). The first woman to be ambassador to the UN was V. L. Pandit from India, even becoming President of the UN General Assembly 1953–54 (one of only four women in that role, by 2021).
- 10.
For more on this see the contribution by Prawitz, Chap. 6 in this volume.
- 11.
SIPRI Yearbook 2021, see also Mehta (2020).
- 12.
Personal communication to Peter Wallensteen, January 26, 2022.
- 13.
See Prawitz Chap. 6 in this volume.
- 14.
- 15.
- 16.
Wallensteen 1974 on Swedish base-closing, was done for such a committee.
- 17.
Frensborg/Wallensteen (1980).
- 18.
See Myrdal Chap. 11 in this volume where she refers to the Pugwash movement.
- 19.
She seems not to have participated in any of the Pugwash conferences at the time, but many of her advisors definitely had, e.g. Jan Prawitz. With its scientific ethos Pugwash definitely would have appealed to her rational mind.
- 20.
Alva Myrdal was also the first Chairperson of the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation. Moreover, she also chaired the committee that created the Institute for Futures Studies (Institutet för framtidsstudier).
- 21.
Peter Wallensteen was in the audience: My recollection from the meeting is that Alva Myrdal was warmly received. Indeed, she was the central person and, although Galtung was brilliant and entertainingly provocative, Myrdal carried the day.
- 22.
Personal communication to Peter Wallensteen, April 2022.
References
Fölster, Kaj 2010. Catharina Möller. Sveriges första kvinnliga ambassadör, in Maj-Inger Klingvall and Gabriele Winai Ström (eds). Från Myrdal till Lindh. Svenska diplomatprofiler, Hedemora: Gidlunds.
Frensborg, Olof and Peter Wallensteen 1980. New Wine and Old Bottles. Product Versus Organization: Swedish Experiences in Changing from Military to Civilian Production, Uppsala: Department of Peace and Conflict Research, 54 p.
Hirdman, Yvonne 1988. Alva Myrdal - en studie i feminism, in Kvinnovetenskaplig tidskrift, Nr. 4, pp. 15–31, https://ojs.ub.gu.se/index.php/tgv/article/viewFile/1493/1306.
Holmwood, John 2000. Three Pillars of Welfare State Theory: T.H. Marshall, Karl Polanyi and Alva Myrdal in Defence of the National Welfare State. European Journal of Social Theory 3(1): 23–50.
Klingvall, Maj-Inger and Gabriele Winai Ström (eds) 2010. Från Myrdal till Lindh. Svenska diplomatprofiler (From Myrdal to Lindh, Profiles of Swedish Diplomats), Gidlund Publishers.
Mehta, Rupal N. 2020. Delaying Doomsday: The Politics of Nuclear Reversal, Oxford University Press, 264 p.
Myrdal, Gunnar and Alva 1934. Kris i befolkningsfrågan, Stockholm.
Myrdal, Alva and Klein 1957. Viola, Kvinnans två roller, Stockholm: Tiden.
Wallensteen, Peter (ed) 1978. Experiences in Disarmament. On Conversion of Military Industry and Closing of Military Bases, Department of Peace and Conflict Research, chapter 6, also in Wallensteen, Peter 2021. A Pioneer in Making Peace Researchable, Springer, chapter 28, pp. 535–550.
Wallensteen, Peter (ed) 2003a. Alva Myrdal in International Affairs, 2003. Uppsala: Uppsala Publishing House, 83 p.
Wallensteen, Peter 2003b. Rationality, Alternative Security and the People: Alva Myrdal’s Approach to International Disarmament, in Wallensteen, P. (ed) 2003. Alva Myrdal in International Affairs, Uppsala Publishing House, pp. 11–21. Also in Wallensteen, Peter, A Pioneer in Making Peace Researchable, Springer, 2021, chapter 25, pp. 483–491 and Chapter 4 in this volume.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Wallensteen, P., Bekaj, A. (2022). Alva Myrdal and Her Role for Disarmament. In: Wallensteen, P., Bekaj, A. (eds) Alva Myrdal: A Pioneer in Nuclear Disarmament . Pioneers in Arts, Humanities, Science, Engineering, Practice, vol 31. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-12797-7_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-12797-7_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-12796-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-12797-7
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)