Espen Barth Eide (born May 1, 1964 in Oslo[1]) is Norway's Minister of Defense. He is a political scientist and a politician for the Labor Party.
Eide went to high school at the Oslo Cathedral School, and graduated from the University of Oslo with the cand.polit. degree in 1993. He has also studied at the Autonomous University of Barcelona.
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In 1983 he began working as a researcher at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), in the United Nations Programme. He became leader of this programme in 1996, later working as an advisor for the panels on Threats, Challenges and Change and Report on Integrated Missions. In 2002 he became leader of the International Politics department at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs.
During the Jens Stoltenberg's first period as Prime Minister, from 2000 to 2001, Eide served as State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. When the Stoltenberg's second cabinet assumed office following the 2005 elections, Eide again became State Secretary, this time in the Ministry of Defence. In 2010 he returned as a State Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On November 11, 2011, he was appointed to the post of Minister of Defense.
Since 2001 Eide has been a board member of the Party of European Socialists. He has also been active in the European Movement and the World Economic Forum.
| Preceded by Grete Faremo |
Minister of Defence 2009–present |
Incumbent |