Frank Henrik Aarebrot is a Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 political scientist from Bergen

Bergen

Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....

. He is professor

Professor

A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...

 of comparative politics

Comparative politics

Comparative politics is a subfield of political science, characterized by an empirical approach based on the comparative method. Arend Lijphart argues that comparative politics does not have a substantive focus in itself, but rather a methodological one: it focuses on "the how but does not specify...

 at 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...

 and professor II of democracy development at the Örebro University

Örebro University

Örebro University is a state university in Örebro, Sweden.University-level education in Örebro started in 1960s, when Uppsala University started to give some courses in Örebro. On the basis of these activities, an independent högskola was created in 1977 under the name Högskolan i Örebro...

. He regularly lectures at Institut des Sciences Politiques and at the Humboldt University. Aarebrot has written several books on the democratisation of Europe, following the fall of the Berlin Wall

Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...

. In Norway Aarebrot is known as a political commentator.

Frank Aarebrot was the assistant of 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:...

. Between 1969 and 1976, he studied at Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

, the University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

 and received his cand.polit.

Cand.polit.

Candidatus rerum politicarum , Candidata rerum politicarum , abbreviated cand.polit., is an academic degree within the fields of social sciences issued under the old education system in Denmark and Norway.-Denmark:...

-degree in comparative politics in 1976. Since 1977 he has been employed by the Institute of Comparative Politics at the University of Bergen.

While working as an observer at the presidential elections of Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

 in 1990, Aarebrot was infected with a skeletal disease. He later had to amputate one of his legs because of this.

Together with the Norwegian TV-comedian

Comedian

A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...

 and sociologist Harald Eia

Harald Eia

Harald Meldal Eia is a Norwegian comedian.-Career:Together with Bård Tufte Johansen, he has been author of, and participated in, several successful Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation comedy TV series, such as Lille Lørdag , Åpen Post , Uti vår hage , Team Antonsen , Tre brødre som ikke er brødre ,...

 and TV-comedians Bård Tufte Johansen

Bård Tufte Johansen

Bård Tufte Johansen is a Norwegian comedian.Together with Harald Eia, he has authored and participated in several successful NRK TV series, such as Lille Lørdag , Åpen post ,Uti vår hage , Team Antonsen , Tre brødre som ikke er brødre , Ut i vår hage 2 and Storbynatt...

 and Kristopher Schau

Kristopher Schau

Kristopher Hugh Martin Schau is a Norwegian musician, TV host, comedian, author and songwriter.-Radio and television shows:...

, Aarebrot tried to prove Pierre Bourdieu

Pierre Bourdieu

Pierre Bourdieu was a French sociologist, anthropologist, and philosopher.Starting from the role of economic capital for social positioning, Bourdieu pioneered investigative frameworks and terminologies such as cultural, social, and symbolic capital, and the concepts of habitus, field or location,...

s critic of Television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

, claiming that it's not an organ of information, but rather distraction: While Aarebrot and Bård Tufte Johansen led a normal-like TV-discussion about the ideas of Pierre Bourdieu, Kristopher Schau was licking dipmix off of the remaining parts of Aarebrots leg. This was meant to work as proof of Bordieus ideas, as the viewers most likely wouldn't remember the actual discussion.

Aarebrot has open political sympathies with the Norwegian Labour Party

Norwegian Labour Party

The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in Norway. It is the senior partner in the current Norwegian government as part of the Red-Green Coalition, and its leader, Jens Stoltenberg, is the current Prime Minister of Norway....

.

Aarebrot is usually holds one of the top spots in the rankings of most quoted scientists in Norwegian media.

External links

• Profile on the website of 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...