Beth – I confess that I still believe the fallout from rejecting the Nobel peace prize outright – no matter how eloquently stated – would have been greater than the grief Obama has received to date for accepting the award, particularly since he always has the option of donating the monetary prize to a charity. As you note, Snow – as a journalist – doesn’t face quite the same predicament; in rejecting his award, he speaks mostly for his own independence and strikes a blow for journalistic integrity. Obama, like it or not, is also a symbol of the United States (lacking a royal family, presidents are all we have!) and as such has to think about the implications for “national prestige”, for want of a better word, in rejecting a rather public award. Reasonable people can disagree, but I think he probably took the least objectionable route in accepting the award while downplaying his credentials. I still think he can help himself politically by sending someone in his stead to actually receive the award.

As for the candidate pool – I don’t know who else was on the list of the more than 200 nominees for the award, but I don’t doubt that many were more deserving than Obama. Given the varying qualifications of past recipients, however, I find it difficult to say with any certainty that this year’s pool was less deep than previous years’. But who knows? Was Arafat a more qualified recipient? Kissinger? In short, history suggests it’s difficult to judge the depth of the talent pool by looking at who actually gets selected.

In any case, Matt, along with your interpretation of what motivated the Committee in their decision, is there not also the implication that this might have been a particularly weak year for Peace Prize candidates?

Beth

A large important vote in the Senate today, and it saw a MAINE Senator move against party lines. Guess thats not a suprise as the Maine Senators traditionally are a bit more moderate (if i recall correctly from graphs I’ve seen some time ago). But I wanted to ask about about a Senate procedure called “reconciliation.” I thought I’d taken enough American Political science courses to have run across this term before. Could you explain what it is, the consequences of using it in the health care debate, and lastly comment on your opinion if it will be used.

Thanks

Chris

How are Laureates selected?

At the first meeting of the Nobel Committee after the February 1 deadline for nominations, the Committee’s Permanent Secretary presents the list of the year’s candidates. The Committee may on that occasion add further names to the list, after which the nomination process is closed, and discussion of the particular candidates begins. In the light of this first review, the Committee draws up the so-called short list – i.e. the list of candidates selected for more thorough consideration. The short list typically contains from five to twenty candidates.

The candidates on the short list are then considered by the Nobel Institute’s permanent advisers. In addition to the Institute’s Director and Research Director, the body of advisers generally consists of a small group of Norwegian university professors with broad expertise in subject areas with a bearing on the Peace Prize. The advisers usually have a couple of months in which to draw up their reports. Reports are also occasionally requested from other Norwegian and foreign experts.

When the advisers’ reports have been presented, the Nobel Committee embarks on a thorough-going discussion of the most likely candidates. In the process, a need sometimes arises to obtain additional information and updating from the group of advisers, especially if any of the nominees are involved in current political affairs. The Committee has as a rule reached its conclusion by mid-September, but has been known not to arrive at a decision until at its very last meeting before the announcement of the Prize at the beginning of October.

The Committee seeks to achieve unanimity in its selection of the Peace Prize Laureate. On the rare occasions when this proves impossible, the selection is decided by a simple majority vote.

http://nobelpeaceprize.org/en_GB/nomination_committee/selection-process/