The Nobel Peace Prize offers no guarantee its winners actually create peace, or make it last
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Wednesday, October 4, 2023
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The Norwegian Nobel Committee is set to announce the recipient of the annual Nobel Peace Prize on Oct. 6, 2023, drawing from a pool of 351 nominees.
Key Points:
- The Norwegian Nobel Committee is set to announce the recipient of the annual Nobel Peace Prize on Oct. 6, 2023, drawing from a pool of 351 nominees.
- But given the track record of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, I always feel some dread before the peace prize announcement.
- Will the award celebrate a true peace builder, or a politician that just happened to sign a peace agreement?
A mixed history
- South African politician Nelson Mandela, for example, won the prize in 1993 for his work to help end apartheid.
- Despite the prize’s mixed track record – and despite calls by some to stop giving the award – I think the Nobel Peace Prize should continue.
The prize can be off-mark
- The Nobel Committee, in my view, does not always give the peace prize to people who actually deserve the recognition.
- And the prize is not a precursor to peace actually happening, or lasting.
- Some previous awardees are head-scratchers, for peace experts and casual observers and recipients alike.
- For example, former President Barack Obama said that he was even surprised by the award when he won it in 2009.
Peace is long term
- In contrast, American diplomat Henry Kissinger won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 for negotiating a cease-fire in Vietnam that same year.
- The Nobel committee tends to award prizes to those involved in current events and doesn’t award prizes long after those events have happened.
- But some awards have stood the test of time, in part because they were given to individuals following long struggles.
It’s about peace
- Swedish scientist Alfred Nobel – the founder of the Nobel awards – said the Nobel Peace Prize should go to the person “who has done the most or best to advance fellowship among nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and the establishment and promotion of peace congresses.” The language is somewhat archaic, but the message is clear – the peace prize was designed to be about stopping war and promoting peace.
- In my view, there are more than enough problems and deadly conflicts in the world whose solutions merit the award of the Nobel Peace Prize as a reflection of its original intent – to acknowledge attempts aimed at ending the scourge of war and building a sustainable peace.