Odd Arne Westad FBA (born 5 January 1960) is a Norwegian historian specializing in the Cold War and contemporary East Asian history.

[3] In the spring semester 2019 Westad was Boeing Company Chair in International Relations at Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University.

He was appointed director of research at the Norwegian Nobel Institute and adjunct professor of history at the University of Oslo in 1991.

Westad speaks and writes in a number of languages, including his native Norwegian, English, French, German, Mandarin and Russian.

While at Harvard, Professor Westad taught international affairs and global history at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.

He also underlines the ideological origins of the Cold War and the long-term effects it had in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

He has been critical of current Chinese foreign policy, which he sees as too nationalistic, although he is in favor of other countries working with China rather than trying to contain it.

It was also shortlisted for the Council on Foreign Relations' Arthur Ross Award for the best book published in the last two years on international affairs.