Pär Granstedt is a Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 politician and former member of the Parliament of Sweden

Parliament of Sweden

The Riksdag is the national legislative assembly of Sweden. The riksdag is a unicameral assembly with 349 members , who are elected on a proportional basis to serve fixed terms of four years...

 for the Centre Party

Centre Party (Sweden)

The Centre Party is a centrist political party in Sweden. The party maintains close ties to rural Sweden and describes itself as "a green social liberal party". The ideology is sometimes called agrarian, but in a European context, the Centre Party can perhaps best be characterized as social...

 from 1973 to 1994. He is a founding member of AWEPA

AWEPA

The Association of European Parliamentarians for Africa is an international non-governmental organisation founded by European Parliamentarians to reduce poverty and to protect human rights by supporting the well functioning of parliaments in Africa and by keeping Africa on the political agenda in...

, Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa. He has served the organization since the foundation as member of the Executive and Council, Vice President and Treasurer and was elected its Secretary General in December 2006. He is currently a member of the AWEPA

AWEPA

The Association of European Parliamentarians for Africa is an international non-governmental organisation founded by European Parliamentarians to reduce poverty and to protect human rights by supporting the well functioning of parliaments in Africa and by keeping Africa on the political agenda in...

 Governing Council.

He was born in Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

 1945 and is educated at the University of Stockholm (Masters, Political Science). He was elected member of the Swedish Parliament 1973. He remained a member of parliament until 1994 and served i. a. as vice chairman of the standing committees for Education and for Foreign Affairs, as chairman of the Parliamentary OSCE-delegation and as member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

Council of Europe

The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...

. 1995-1999 he was advisor to the Swedish Government on security policy and international relations. 1999-2005 he worked as Director and Political Advisor for the Federation of Swedish Farmers. He was Vice President of the World Federation of UN Associations 1995-2000.

Mr Granstedt has also published a number of books and articles on international relations

International relations

International relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...

, sustainable development

Sustainable development

Sustainable development is a pattern of resource use, that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for generations to come...

 and democracy

Democracy

Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...

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