Northwest Art Center’s 2008-09 lecture series starts on Sept. 29

John Pederson, Ph.D., associate professor of humanities and social science at Mayville State University, will open the Northwest Art Center’s 2008-09 lecture series on Sept. 29, with "Nordic Military Cooperation in the Early Cold War: A De Facto Nordic Pact?" This presentation traces the political alignment of the Nordic countries during the Cold War.

"Despite their shared affinity, the Cold War split the Nordic countries," said Pederson. "Norway, Denmark and Iceland were charter members of NATO, while Sweden and Finland were officially neutral."

Prior to the development of the so-called "Nordic balance," Sweden attempted to create a Nordic pact in the late 1940s. This lecture will discuss how these efforts floundered, and subsequent developments of military cooperation of Sweden with the Western alliance, despite its stated policy of neutrality.

Pederson earned his doctorate from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where his primary field of study was recent European history. His research has been supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Norwegian Information Service, as well as the King Olav V Norwegian American Heritage Fund.

All lectures are held in Aleshire Theater at 7 p.m. A question-and-answer period and informal reception will follow the presentation. The program is free and open to the public and refreshments are served afterward.

The NAC lecture series is funded in part by a grant from the North Dakota Council on the Arts, which receives funding from the state legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information about the lecture and other NAC activities, call Avis Veikley, director of the Northwest Art Center, at 858-3264 or visit the Web site www.minotstateu.edu/nac.

09/30/08

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