Reflections on Norway
Yesterday and Today

  

The key elements of Norwegian history, the Norwegian tradition in America, and the political and social realities of contemporary Norway.

 

 

 

 

Thomas Hanson is an international consultant whose previous experience includes a career in the United States Foreign Service from 1973 to 1994.  His State Department postings included East Germany, France, Norway, the Soviet Union, Sweden, and the former Soviet republic of Georgia.  In addition, he participated in the establishment of U.S. diplomatic relations with Estonia and Mongolia.  Mr. Hanson has also worked on the foreign relations committees of both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives.  Most recently, he has served as Director for European and NATO Affairs at the Atlantic Council of the United States in Washington, DC.  Mr. Hanson is a frequent speaker throughout Minnesota for the Minnesota International Center’s Great Decisions program and is an honorary member of the board of the Foreign Policy Association in New York, which administers the program.  He is also program secretary of the St. Paul-Minneapolis Committee on Foreign Relations, is a lecturer for the Global Discussions program at the University of Minnesota, and has done foreign affairs interviews for Minnesota Public Radio and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.  Mr. Hanson holds a BA degree from the University of Minnesota and graduate degrees from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy; the Institute for Advanced International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland; and the National School of Administration (ENA) in Paris, France.  His Norwegian roots are in Sogn, Hallingdal and Telemark.