ANALYSIS / Obama's Nobel win seen as 'daring' bet on future
Experts: Politicians rarely win so soon after gaining power, without any major foreign policy achievements.
By Reuters Tags: Jimmy Carter Barack Obama Israel newsBarack Obama is not the first Nobel laureate to win mainly for raising hopes of a better world, rather than achieving peace. But rarely, experts say, does a politician win so soon after gaining power and without a major foreign policy accomplishment under his belt.
"The Nobel Committee wants the prize to have an impact and it certainly can with Obama, although in many ways it's premature," said Kristian Berg Karpviken, head of the International Peace Research Institute in Oslo (PRIO).
"I can't see another Nobel as daring as this - to present someone who is only at the beginning and is yet to have a significant impact," he said.
The long process of picking the laureate by the Nobel Committee meant that Obama had to be nominated for the prize by the start of February, just days after he was sworn in as U.S. president.
In its citation, the Nobel Committee said: "Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future."
Nobel Committee Chairman Thorbjoern Jagland said what Obama had already achieved since replacing President George W. Bush - including seeking nuclear disarmament and creating "a new climate in international politics" - made him a worthy winner.
But not all agreed, even in Norway, which cherishes the Nobel Peace prize as its most heard voice on the global stage.
Siv Jensen, the head of Norway's biggest opposition party, said: "In the year he's been president he has not achieved concrete things in peace work. I mean that should be the criterion in handing out the peace prize, not expectations."
Jagland compared Obama's prize to the 1990 award to ex-Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and the 1971 prize to then German Chancellor Willy Brandt.
But Gorbachev won a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall - the main symbol of the ending of the Cold War - although the Soviet Union had not yet disintegrated. And Brandt, who won for opening up to the East, had been chancellor since 1969.
Often Nobels are given as a sort of lifetime achievement award for peace makers, such as former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who won in 2002, and the 2008 winner, former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari.
Some likened Obama's prize to the 1978 award shared by Egyptian President Mohammad Anwar Al-Sadat and Prime Minister Menachem Begin, who negotiated peace between their countries which, at the time, provided much hope for security across the Middle East. Such peace still remains elusive.
Another prize based on hopes of achievement, rather than past success, and producing little impact was the 1976 award to Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan, co-founders of the Peace People who vainly sought reconciliation in northern Ireland.
Why Facebook Connect?
Comment on Haaretz.com articles with your Facebook login, and share your thoughts on your own wall.
- Latest
- Most Viewed
- Most Rated
- Open all
The Nobel Prize is an international award administered by the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm, Sweden. Check your facts
... take-the-bull-by-the-horns, and not just skirt around it... ... even a bull as calculatedly 'courteous' as Bibi is...
As far as knee jerk conservatives loving war and hating peace is your opinion. This award is for peace, which he has not achieved, and if he does than he desrves it this award without question. I guess this award doesn't mean much as Yasser Arrafat has one. 1o days of work abnd you get a Nobel Peace Prize pretty sweet stuff.
best be kissing that sweet derriere goodbye! many of us though, we prefer to stick around to maybe witness the onset of peace...ahemmm..."with G-D on our side". do try to have a nice a nice day, heather.
It is evident Obama did not receive the Nobel prize for past or current achievements.The Nobel committee members wanted to boost his stature & help him implement Norway's policy favoring diplomacy rather than isolation of, sanctions on & confrontation with members of the "axis of evil" & their proxies. The member's recurrent naive minds let them also believe they could turn a criminal terrorist named Arafat into a peace preacher by giving him a Nonel prize. Now their foolish hope in softening with diplomacy the implacable religious fanatics of every stripe in Iran, Irak, afghanistan, Pakistan, Gaza, Lebanon...is not going to be rewarded by facts. You just can't deal with such irrational rogues bent on dominating at any cost.Their regressive religious ambitions are no more prone to concessions than the racially based ideology of the nazis.
I respectfully submit to the Nobel Prize Committee my nomination for the Medicine award in 2010. I am NOT a physician, but have I a Ph.D in another field, and I intend to find a cure for cancer in the future. My intentions are sincere and I hope to keep my promise. Could I have the prize IN ADVANCE please, like Obama, because I have the greatest desire to discover the "magic bullet" for all types of cancer and other related ills. With many thanks, Dr. Jack, Canada
With this Nobel Peace Prize, Obama's achievement yet to be seen , will be : either to use this title for more talks which only lead to a weaker and gradually useless USA in favour of Putin's Russia, and Ahmadinedjad and so on... or if Obama wakes up to realty, he could use this Prize with some authority to now do what is right for the USA and all the world's democracies,in the name of Peace of course, namely : properly and vigourously fight (not lick their boots) authocratic and fanatic regimes, starting with Iran ,Venezuela, Lybia.........
This is good development which needs to be extended across all categories - for example: The (premature)Nobel Price for Physics: The prize is awarded for to the physicist who has NO track records with the hope of encouraging him/her to find something useful - an award recognizing the true underdog hero of the Physicist community pre-judged & shunned inappropriately simply because he has not found anything valuable. If there was ever any doubt that the Nobel Peace Prize is a case of politics and only politics this must be an eye opener even for those on the left leaving in the denial - but again maybe not - one has to be a realist. May I suggest that he be nominated for next year Nobel Prize for Chemistry (just in case he does not find anything of value and needs further encouragement). I have only high school knowledge of Biology but I am sure if awarded the Nobel Prize for Biology it will spur me on to read a couple of more of Richard Dawkins books and possible dissect a frog
The knee-jerk response of Conservatives to the the things they loath the most, Obama and Peace has been predictable and snarky. But what can one expect from people who love war, hate peace, and loath anyone who might work towards peace?
Sir, My deep and sincere appreciation to you for showing me and others a truly pragmatic and realistic and at the same time truly profound reason that is justifying Nobel Peace Prize for oabama at last. Chapeau and do lend us your eye more often here on Haaretz TB. Care for the blind. Regards.
only time will tell... But dfon't forget they have convensional weapons they are also willing to use.
He didn't bestow it on himself. The only people screaming are those who see President Obama growing in world-wide support. Support that is needed if there is to be peace in the ME. Salaam/Shalom
If this is what the Nobel judges envision for the future, then the Apocalypse must be just around the corner. Prepare, all ye who are faithful to The Almighty...G-d, that is.
it is a no brainer.
For his "pacific use of nuclear power"
It truly was a daring move by the Nobel committee ,and, as a BBC commentator pointed out, it only increases the tremendous burden of expectation President Obama already carries. Ordinarily, I would regret this award for the recipient's sake, but right now the world probably needs Obama to fulfill his great potential. I can't fault the committee for delivering either the extraordinary vote of support, or the tremendous added pressure. Let's hope that Obama makes good use of the former, and survives the latter.
Racism and neo colonial mindsets were thoroughly defeated by Obama, as he finished a 2 year disciplined, grueling uphill task to create one of the most peaceful agenda in the White House. Every person of color found a new life opening up for them with the victory of Barak Obama. Can you measure the peace this generated all over the world???!
1.Good evening university students, boys and girls. 2.When it comes to hidden mysteries, religious leaders are very quick to occupy the best seat of the table. 3.In most cases however, religious leaders usually preach the opposite of what is hidden. E.g.: the world is flat, the earth is the center of the universe, God created the earth in six 24-hour days, etc. 4.Fellow-scientists who contradicted age-old preachings were often severely punished, excommunicated, hanged or burnt to death alive. 5.Get ready for a real shock and awe: The God they have so far preached is not the Real God but just their personal meditation. 6.Even more shocking is when it becomes clear whom they have so far served, adored and glorified. 7.Believe it or not: the smoking gun that redeems religious leaders also resolves The Middle East Crisis justly, permanently, comprehensively, speedily, in our days and without preconditions.
1.The reason why World Leaders have so far failed to bring about Peace in the Middle East is this: World Leaders are blind and do not see the real enemy. 2.Public Enemy Number One is neither Israel nor The West nor Iran nor The Terrorists. The real enemy of Peace is the Devil. 3.It is the Devil that is preventing Two Peoples, Two Nations and Two Religions to get married. It is the Devil that is causing the violent weather, dictating terrorists to draw their swords, including nuclear, out of the scabbard and causing economic and financial crisis. 4.The Biblically prophesied individual who can obliterate the Devil and engineer the Arrival of The Jesus Christ is a small boy with the Perfect Formula of Five Loaves that catches Two Big Fish: The Devil and Jesus Christ whose symbols is Fish. 5.Honestly, I do not think that President Obama has the Five Loaves.