Kjell Magne Bondevik ({{IPA|no|ˈçɛlː ˈmɑ̀ŋnə ˈbʊ̀nːəviːk|-|Kjell-Magne Bondevik.ogg}}; born 3 September 1947) is a Norwegian Lutheran minister and politician. As leader of the Christian Democratic Party, he served as the prime minister of Norway from 1997 to 2000, and from 2001 to 2005, making him, after Erna Solberg, Norway's second longest serving non-Labour Party prime minister since World War II.{{cite news |title=Norske regjeringer siden 1945 |url=http://www.aftenposten.no/norge/politikk/Norske-regjeringer-siden-1945-261732b.html |work=Aftenposten |date=16 October 2011 |access-date=2016-10-02 |archive-date=2017-05-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170522014607/http://www.aftenposten.no/norge/politikk/Norske-regjeringer-siden-1945-261732b.html |url-status=live }} Currently, Bondevik is president of the Oslo Centre for Peace and Human Rights.{{cite news |title=Bondevik attempts dialogue with Iran's president |url=http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article2712163.ece |work=Aftenposten |date=14 October 2008 |access-date=2008-10-14 |author=Aftenposten English Web Desk/NTB|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081016202157/http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article2712163.ece|archive-date=2008-10-16}}

Family and early life

Bondevik was born in Molde, the son of Johannes Bondevik, a principal at the Christian folk high school Rauma folkehøyskole who also was a local politician for the Christian Democratic Party,[http://www.nettavisen.no/innenriks/article905241.ece Bondevik mistet faren] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070221112339/http://www.nettavisen.no/innenriks/article905241.ece |date=2007-02-21 }} {{in lang|no}} Nettavisen, 19 February 2007. Retrieved 20 July 2013. and Margit, née Hæreid. He became a theological candidate from MF Norwegian School of Theology in 1975.Erling Rimehaug in Norsk biografisk leksikon: [http://nbl.snl.no/Kjell_Magne_Bondevik/utdypning Kjell Magne Bondevik] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019161942/http://nbl.snl.no/Kjell_Magne_Bondevik/utdypning|date=19 October 2013}} {{in lang|no}} Store norske leksikon. Retrieved 20 July 2013. As Bondevik was active in Norwegian politics at a young age, he did not serve in the military.{{clarify|date=April 2024}} In 1979, he was ordained as pastor in the (Lutheran) Church of Norway.

He is married to Bjørg Bondevik (née Rasmussen) and has three children: Bjørn (born 1972), Hildegunn (born 1973), and John Harald (born 1976). Kjell Magne Bondevik is the nephew of politician Kjell Bondevik, the cousin of former bishop Odd Bondevik and brother in law of author and priest Eyvind Skeie.Viggo Valle and Per Kristian Johansen (2 June 2008): [http://www.nrk.no/programmer/radio/stjerneklart/1.5872558 Stjerneklart med Kjell Magne Bondevik] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080929065554/http://www.nrk.no/programmer/radio/stjerneklart/1.5872558 |date=29 September 2008 }} {{in lang|no}} NRK. Retrieved 20 July 2013.

Political career

In 2008, Bondevik said that he regards himself as a "68'er", and that he was "influenced by the radical wind of the time". While he remained in the movement of Young Christian Democrats (Norway, KrFU), he claims to have "radicalized the organization to great despair in the party". He has also said that he would likely rather have "oriented" himself towards the Socialist People's Party, had his radicalization of the Christian Democratic Party not gone through.Anfindsen, 2010, p. 249.

Representing the Christian Democratic Party, Bondevik was a member of the Storting (Parliament) from 1973 to 2005. He was his party's parliamentary leader in the periods of 1981–1983, 1986–1989, 1993–1997, 1997, and 2000–2001, and party leader from 1983 to 1995. In this position, he was succeeded by Valgerd Svarstad Haugland. He was also Minister of Foreign Affairs in Jan P. Syse's government of 1989–1990, Minister of Church and Education in Kåre Willoch's government 1983–1986, also Prime Minister Willoch's deputy 1985–1986, and state secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister during Lars Korvald's government 1972–1973.

=== As Prime Minister===

File:President George W. Bush meets with Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik of Norway in the Oval Office Friday, May 16, 2003.jpg in Washington, D.C., 16 May 2003]]

Bondevik's first term as prime minister lasted from 17 October 1997 to 3 March 2000, in a coalition cabinet consisting of the Christian Democratic Party, the Centre Party and the Liberal Party.

While serving his first term as prime minister, Bondevik attracted international attention in August 1998 when he announced that he was suffering from depressive episode, becoming the highest ranking world leader to admit to suffering from a mental illness while in office. Upon this revelation, Anne Enger became acting prime minister for three weeks, from 30 August to 23 September, while he recovered from the depressive episode. Bondevik then returned to office. Bondevik received thousands of supportive letters, and said that the experience had been positive overall, both for himself and because it made mental illness more publicly acceptable.{{cite journal|last1=Jones|first1=Ben|last2=Bondevik|first2=Kjell Magne|title=Fighting stigma with openness|journal=Bulletin of the World Health Organization|date=December 2011|volume=89|issue=12|pages=862–863|doi=10.2471/BLT.11.041211|pmid=22271941|url=https://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/89/12/11-041211/en/index.html|access-date=19 July 2013|pmc=3260893|archive-date=31 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131031035031/http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/89/12/11-041211/en/index.html|url-status=dead}}BBC Newsnight, 21 January 2008.

Bondevik's first cabinet resigned after losing a confidence vote in March 2000 as a result of a dispute over the construction of gas-fired power stations{{Cite web|title=NORWAY: Row over gas-fired power stations topples Government|url=https://www.edie.net/news/0/NORWAY-Row-over-gas-fired-power-stations-topples-Government/2426/|access-date=2020-06-05|website=edie.net|language=en|archive-date=2015-09-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923233528/http://www.edie.net/news/0/NORWAY-Row-over-gas-fired-power-stations-topples-Government/2426/|url-status=live}} and was replaced by a Labour Party government led by Jens Stoltenberg until their defeat in the 2001 parliamentary election. Bondevik then formed his second cabinet, consisting of the Christian Democratic Party, the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party, which took office on 19 October 2001.{{cn|date=April 2024}}

The second Bondevik government carried out reforms and left a booming economy; however, Bondevik was defeated in the 2005 parliamentary election, with 81 seats obtained for Bondevik's coalition and its supporters to the opposition Red-Green Coalition's 88.{{cn|date=April 2024}}

Bondevik announced his retirement from national-level politics at the end of his term as prime minister, and did not seek re-election for his seat in parliament.{{cn|date=April 2024}}

Post-premiership

The Oslo Centre for Peace and Human Rights was founded by Bondevik in January 2006. The purpose of the centre is to work for world peace, human rights and inter-religious tolerance worldwide. The centre cooperates closely with the Carter Center in Atlanta, the Kim Dae Jung Library in Seoul and the Crisis Management Initiative in Helsinki.

On 31 October 2006, he published his memoir, called Et liv i spenning (A life of excitement and tension).

On 31 January 2017, he was the first high-ranking politician from another country detained and questioned in the United States as a result of President Donald Trump's executive orders banning immigration from seven predominantly Muslim nations, because of a diplomatic visit to Iran he had made in 2014.[https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/03/former-norway-pm-bondevik-held-washington-dulles-airport-2014-visit-iran?CMP=fb_gu Former Norway PM held at Washington airport over 2014 visit to Iran] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170205013600/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/03/former-norway-pm-bondevik-held-washington-dulles-airport-2014-visit-iran?CMP=fb_gu |date=5 February 2017}} The Guardian. 3 February 2017.[https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/03/world/europe/kjell-magne-bondevik-norway-dulles.html Norwegian Ex-Premier Is Stopped at Dulles Airport Over Iran Visit] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170205074511/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/03/world/europe/kjell-magne-bondevik-norway-dulles.html |date=5 February 2017}} The New York Times, 3 February 2017.

In 2022, it was revealed that Bondevik had published a glowing appraisal of Kazakhstan in the Norwegian daily newspaper Vårt Land after receiving cash payments from the government of Kazakhstan.[https://www.dagsavisen.no/debatt/leder/2022/01/13/pinlig-bondevik/ Cash payments from Kazakhstan controversy], dagsavisen.no. Accessed 7 April 2024.

Earlier, in 2021, the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet had revealed that one of Bondevik's colleagues, the Conservative Party politician Aamir J. Sheikh, had requested a cash payment of 704,000 NOK from the government of Bahrain in an e-mail, with Bondevik as one of the carbon-copied (CC) recipients. "A month later, Bondevik and Sheikh handed out an 'honorary prize' to representatives of Bahrain's prime minister," the newspaper wrote.{{Cite web |last=Gedde-Dahl |first=Caroline Drefvelin, Torgeir P. Krokfjord, Siri |date=2021-11-27 |title=- Tror knapt det man leser |url=https://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/tror-knapt-det-man-leser/74741470 |access-date=2022-11-02 |website=dagbladet.no |language=no}}

Awards and decorations

Bondevik was awarded the Grand Cross of St. Olav in 2004, the first sitting Norwegian Prime Minister to receive the Order of St. Olav in 80 years. The award happened due to a change in the Statutes of the Order with automatic awards to the prime minister and Ministers of the Government that stirred some debate and criticism.[http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2004/09/18/408659.html Orden på Bondevik] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151119220927/http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2004/09/18/408659.html |date=2015-11-19 }} {{in lang|no}} Dagbladet. Retrieved 20 July 2013. With the succeeding Stoltenberg Government, the practice was halted.[http://www.vg.no/nyheter/meninger/artikkel.php?artid=197383 Den siste ære] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210528110131/https://www.vg.no/nyheter/meninger/i/A6wbE/den-siste-aere |date=2021-05-28 }} {{in lang|no}} VG. Retrieved 20 July 2013.

He is a full member of the Club de Madrid, a group of former leaders of democratic states that works to strengthen democratic governance and leadership.{{cite web|title=Full Members: B|url=http://www.clubmadrid.org/en/estructura/full_members/letra:b|work=Club de Madrid|access-date=19 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170929044335/http://www.clubmadrid.org/en/estructura/full_members/letra:b|archive-date=29 September 2017|url-status=dead}}

Bondevik is an Honorary Member of The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation.Maren Næss Olsen (5 August 2011): [http://morgenbladet.no/samfunn/2011/kobler_terror_til_hamsunar#.Uer7TG3N6ro Kobler terror til Hamsun-år] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116061828/https://morgenbladet.no/samfunn/2011/kobler_terror_til_hamsunar#.Uer7TG3N6ro |date=2018-11-16 }} {{in lang|no}} Morgenbladet. Retrieved 20 July 2013.

In 2009, Bondevik was awarded an honorary degree from the University of San Francisco.{{cite web|last=Carpenter |first=Edward |title=USF Welcomes Norwegian Prime Minister |url=http://www.usfca.edu/Newsroom/Global_Perspective/USF_Welcomes_Norwegian_Prime_Minister/ |work=University of San Francisco |access-date=19 July 2013 |date=28 September 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121029065910/http://www.usfca.edu/Newsroom/Global_Perspective/USF_Welcomes_Norwegian_Prime_Minister/ |archive-date=29 October 2012 }}

References

External links

[http://www.oslocenter.no/english.html The Oslo Centre for Peace and Human Rights] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060719081507/http://www.oslocenter.no/english.html |date=2006-07-19 }}
[https://web.archive.org/web/20151214082116/http://www.saintolav.com/ The Royal Norwegian Order of St Olav]

{{succession box | before=Sverre Pettersen| title=Chairman of the Youth of the Christian People's Party | years=1970–1973 | after=Ivar Molde}}

{{succession box | before=Kåre Kristiansen| title=Leader of the Christian Democratic Party | years=1983–1995 |after=Valgerd Svarstad Haugland}}

{{succession box | before=Tore Austad| title=Norwegian Minister of Church and Education Affairs | years=1983–1986 |after=Kirsti Kolle Grøndahl}}

{{succession box | before=Thorvald Stoltenberg| title=Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs | years=1989–1990 |after=Thorvald Stoltenberg}}

{{s-ttl| title = Prime Minister of Norway

| years = 1997–2000 }}

{{s-ttl| title = Prime Minister of Norway

| years = 2001–2005 }}

Category:1947 births

Category:Living people

Category:Prime ministers of Norway

Category:Ministers of foreign affairs of Norway