Chr. Michelsen Institute
Encyclopedia
The Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI) was founded in 1930, and is currently the largest centre for development research in Scandinavia. CMI is an independent, non-profit research foundation for policy-oriented and applied development research. Headed by the director Ottar Mæstad, it employs 40 social scientists, primarily anthropologists, economists and political scientists. CMI receives core funding from the Norwegian Research Council (NFR) and project support from Norwegian state ministries and agencies, and Norwegian and international non-governmental organisations.
CMI hosts the Anti-Corruption Resource Centre, also referred to as U4.
Research and cooperation
The institute’s geographical focus is on Sub-Saharan AfricaSub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa as a geographical term refers to the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara. A political definition of Sub-Saharan Africa, instead, covers all African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara...
, South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
, Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
, the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, and partly also South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. CMI focuses its research around ten thematic areas: Aid
Aid
In international relations, aid is a voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another, given at least partly with the objective of benefiting the recipient country....
, Global health
Global health
Global health is the health of populations in a global context and transcends the perspectives and concerns of individual nations. Health problems that transcend national borders or have a global political and economic impact, are often emphasized...
and development, Governance
Governance
Governance is the act of governing. It relates to decisions that define expectations, grant power, or verify performance. It consists of either a separate process or part of management or leadership processes...
and corruption
Corruption
Corruption usually refers to spiritual or moral impurity.Corruption may also refer to:* Corruption , an American crime film* Corruption , a British horror film...
, Natural resources
Natural Resources
Natural Resources is a soul album released by Motown girl group Martha Reeves and the Vandellas in 1970 on the Gordy label. The album is significant for the Vietnam War ballad "I Should Be Proud" and the slow jam, "Love Guess Who"...
, Peace and conflict, Rights
Rights
Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people, according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical theory...
and legal institutions, Public finance
Public finance
Public finance is the revenue and expenditure of public authoritiesThe purview of public finance is considered to be threefold: governmental effects on efficient allocation of resources, distribution of income, and macroeconomic stabilization.-Overview:The proper role of government provides a...
management, Poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
dynamics, Culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
s and politics of faith
Faith
Faith is confidence or trust in a person or thing, or a belief that is not based on proof. In religion, faith is a belief in a transcendent reality, a religious teacher, a set of teachings or a Supreme Being. Generally speaking, it is offered as a means by which the truth of the proposition,...
, and Gender
Gender
Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity...
relations from the local to the global.
CMI has formal cooperation agreements with various research institutions in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Through institutional cooperation CMI facilitates joint research and projects, institutional development and competence building. In Norway, CMI has close formal institutional collaborations with the University of Bergen
University of Bergen
The University of Bergen is located in Bergen, Norway. Although founded as late as 1946, academic activity had taken place at Bergen Museum as far back as 1825. The university today serves more than 14,500 students...
(UiB) and the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration (NHH), including teaching, joint research projects and support to graduate students and PhD candidates.
History
Christian Michelsen
Peter Christian Hersleb Kjerschow Michelsen was a Norwegian shipping magnate and statesman. He was the first Prime Minister of an independent Norway from 1905 to 1907...
(1857-1925). Michelsen bequeathed a large part of his fortune to the establishment of a foundation for science and intellectual freedom. The Chr. Michelsen Institute was established on the founder's birthday, 15 March 1930. In his will, Michelsen specified four areas of priority: humanities, natural sciences, technology and medicine and "cultural and scientific work to foster tolerance between nations and races - religious, social, economic and political." It was the latter formulation that justified a subsequent focus on development issues.
The economist Just Faaland
Just Faaland
Just Faaland is a Norwegian political economist. He started as an economist with OEEC in 1949. Later he worked for a number of international institutions including the World Bank, ILO, IFAD, FAO, WFP, UNDP, and the Asian Development Bank. Faaland has been based as a development researcher at the...
and the political scientist Stein Rokkan
Stein Rokkan
Stein Rokkan was a Norwegian political scientist and sociologist. He was a professor in comparative politics at the University of Bergen.-Career and influence:...
initiated and developed broader research programmes and employed more people in the 1950s. They financed the expansion through participation in international research programmes and by mobilising other financial resources. In 1961 they had defined research programmes in international economics and comparative politics. In 1965, the Development Action and Research Programme (DERAP), a development economics project on growth problems in developing countries was formally established. The DERAP model combined research work at the Institute in Bergen with applied and practical work in developing countries, a model to which CMI still adheres. DERAP gradually recruited other social scientists in addition to the economists. In the early 1980s, Just Faaland established a Human Rights Programme which soon grew to become the other main focus in social science research. In 1992, the Department for Natural Science and Technology established the Christian Michelsen Research AS, jointly owned by CMI and the University of Bergen. The Department of Social Science and Development became the Chr. Michelsen Institute. DERAP and the Human Rights Programme merged, and research became the main objective. Practical work in developing countries is still important, but long term assignments are replaced by shorter missions and research-co-operation in the South. At the time of CMI’s 75th anniversary in 2005 the institution’s annual turnover was about NOK 55m.
Notable CMI participants
- Helmer DahlHelmer DahlHelmer Hartmann Dahl was a Norwegian engineer.He graduated as an engineer from the Norwegian Institute of Technology in 1931, and was hired at the Chr. Michelsen Institute in 1935. From 1942 to 1945 he was in exile in the United Kingdom...
- Odd Dahl
- Just FaalandJust FaalandJust Faaland is a Norwegian political economist. He started as an economist with OEEC in 1949. Later he worked for a number of international institutions including the World Bank, ILO, IFAD, FAO, WFP, UNDP, and the Asian Development Bank. Faaland has been based as a development researcher at the...
- Ole David Koht Norbye
- Fridtjof NansenFridtjof NansenFridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen was a Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. In his youth a champion skier and ice skater, he led the team that made the first crossing of the Greenland interior in 1888, and won international fame after reaching a...
- Stein RokkanStein RokkanStein Rokkan was a Norwegian political scientist and sociologist. He was a professor in comparative politics at the University of Bergen.-Career and influence:...
- Thoralf SkolemThoralf SkolemThoralf Albert Skolem was a Norwegian mathematician known mainly for his work on mathematical logic and set theory.-Life:...
- Kristian Schjelderup
- Harald SverdrupHarald SverdrupHarald Ulrik Sverdrup was a Norwegian oceanographer and meteorologist who made a number of important theoretical discoveries in these fields. Having first worked in Bergen and Leipzig he was the scientific director of the North Polar expedition of Roald Amundsen aboard the Maud from 1918 to 1925...