Changes in the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize reflect greater changes in society, the chairman of the committee that annually selects Nobel laureates says.
Professor Francis Sejersted spoke to faculty and students at Brigham Young University recently. Sejersted has been a member of the committee that selects winners for the world-famous prize since 1982.Sejersted, who teaches economic and social history at the University of Oslo, noted that the Nobel Peace Prize in its first 60 years was predominantly awarded to white male political leaders from Western nations. In recent years, however, the award has regularly been given to human rights activists and women from geographical areas not formerly considered.
"The main reason to my mind is quite obvious," he said. "It was the new threat emerging from the rise of totalitarian regimes in the 20th century and more specifically the experience of total war with ethnic cleansing and other atrocities."
The winner of the 1997 Peace Prize was announced earlier this month. American Jody Williams and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines were awarded the prize "for their work for the banning and clearing of anti-personnel mines." The prize will be given in Oslo Dec. 10, the 102nd anniversary of the death of Swedish chemist and inventor Alfred Nobel.
As the prize committee broadens its definition of candidates, the Nobel Peace Prize has taken on an expanded role in global society. The prize and those who win it have become symbols that allow people to realize their best intentions, or as German philosopher Immanuel Kant said, "to overcome the evil principle within (them)."
"It is indeed very important that the prize winners not only are skillful diplomats but also can stand forth as symbols of good will," Sejersted said. "Only then can the Peace Prize contribute to turning history into a moral endeavor."
Sejersted said that although the 1997 Nobel prize ceremony hasn't been held yet, committee members already are thinking about next year. An invitation for nominations for the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize recently was sent to government leaders, Nobel laureates and professors of history, philosophy, juris prudence and political science around the world.
Nominations must be returned by Jan. 31, 1998. Typically, the committee reviews about 120 nominations and narrows the field to 20 or 30 candidates, whose background and work are then thoroughly researched. Finally, the field is pared to three or four nominees before a winner is chosen.
Sejersted said the Nobel committee tries not to get caught up in the prestige of the 96-year-old prize and doesn't give in to criticism over its choices. Alfred Nobel's will states that the prize will be given "to those, who, during the preceding year shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind." But the award has also taken on a political role.
"Possible positive effects of the choice are also taken into consideration," Sejersted said. "The awarding of the prize is, in short, a political act, and that is the reason why it so often stirs up controversy."
Giving this year's award to Williams and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines has pressured President Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin toward agreeing to sign a treaty banning land mines. Sejersted suggested that might have been on committee members' minds when they chose Williams.
The committee in some years has come under fire for awarding the prize to those who have, in part, contributed to violence and war as well as helped curtail it. Examples include Henry Kissinger, North Korean Le Duc Tho (the only recipient ever to decline the award) and Yasser Arafat.
"In reality we have honored both good work for justice and good work for peace settlements with an element of forgiveness in it," Sejersted said.
Sejersted, who also spoke at BYU in 1992, is spending time in Arizona, Utah and New York during his current two-week visit to the United States. His current visit at BYU has been in the making for more than a year and was coordinated by BYU director of admissions Erlend Peterson, who served as a mission president for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Norway several years ago.