The Nobel Peace Prize (where Nobel is pronounced with the stress on the second syllable) is one of five Nobel Prizes requested by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel. While the Physics, Chemistry, Medicine and Literature Prizes are awarded annually in Stockholm, the Peace Prize is awarded in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The Norwegian Nobel Committee, whose members are chosen by the Norwegian Parliament, is appointed to select the laureate for the Peace Prize, and the prize is awarded by its chairman, Dr. Ole Danbolt Mjøs. At the time of Alfred Nobel's death Sweden and Norway were in a personal union in which the Swedish parliament was solely responsible for foreign policy (in addition to Swedish domestic policy), and the Norwegian Parliament was responsible only for Norwegian domestic policy. Alfred Nobel therefore stipulated that the Peace Prize be awarded by Norway rather than Sweden in order to prevent the manipulation of the selection process by foreign powers.
According to the will of Alfred Nobel the prize should be awarded "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses".
Unlike the other Nobel Prizes, the Nobel Peace Prize may be awarded to persons or organizations that are in the process of resolving an issue, rather than upon the resolution of the issue. In this way, the Nobel Peace Prize differs from all the other Nobel prizes. Since the prize can be given to individuals involved in ongoing peace processes, some of the awards now appear, with hindsight, questionable, particularly when those processes failed to bear lasting fruit. For example, the awards given to Theodore Roosevelt, Le Duc Tho, and Henry Kissinger were particularly controversial and criticized; the latter prompted two dissenting committee members to resign [1]. The Nobel Committee has also received criticism from right-wing groups who see their decisions as guided by an apparent left-wing bias. They especially condemn the prize being given to people like Yasser Arafat, whom they view as having been a supporter of terrorism.
Laureates
List of Nobel Prize laureates in Peace from 1901 to the present day.
1900s - 1910s - 1920s - 1930s - 1940s - 1950s - 1960s - 1970s - 1980s - 1990s - 2000s
1900s
1910s
1920s
1930s
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
Year |
Individual or Organization |
Notes |
2000
|
President Kim Dae Jung (金大中) (South Korea)
|
"for his work for democracy and human rights in South Korea and in East Asia in general, and for peace and reconciliation with North Korea in particular" |
2001
|
The United Nations and Secretary-General Kofi Annan (Ghana)
|
"for their work for a better organized and more peaceful world" |
2002
|
Jimmy Carter - former President of the United States
|
"for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development" |
2003
|
Shirin Ebadi (شیرین عبادی), (Iran)
|
"for her efforts for democracy and human rights. She has focused especially on the struggle for the rights of women and children." |
2004
|
Wangari Maathai (Kenya)
|
"for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace" |
See also
Last updated: 10-15-2005 23:32:55