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> the Norwegian Nobel Committee (which is a private organization which awards a private prize, despite having some members selected by Norwegian parliament) Th

> the Norwegian Nobel Committee (which is a private organization which awards a private prize, despite having some members selected by Norwegian parliament) The Peace Prize is a bit closer to the Norwegian government than that. Alfred Nobel left that part of his will directly to the Norwegian Parliament, not to a private organization, and he tasked the Parliament with using the money to establish a peace prize. The Parliament established a committee, the Nobel Committee, to administer the award, and traditionally its members were a subset of standing members of Parliament, with the partisan makeup of the Nobel Committee reflecting each party's representation in Parliament. In recent years they have instituted a rule that current parliamentarians can't sit on the committee, and instead retired parliamentarians are chosen, to given it slightly more distance. But they're still 100% selected by Parliament, and allocated to each party in proportion to party representation in the Parliament.

Crito 12y ago
The current reality is that the Norwegian Nobel Committee is a private body, and it is not currently the role of Norwegian Parliament to dictate to it who they may or may not award prizes to. Nobel may not have set it up that way personally, but that is how it is currently set up.
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sondr3 12y ago
But the Norwegian government has absolutely nothing to do with who gets the prize, which is the whole point here. The fact that China gets angry at Norway et al because of a committee in Norway gave the peace prize to someone almost nobody in China knows about is a bit petty.
- digi_owl 12y ago
  That could be because China looks at politics more like a old boys club than Norway does. Then again, there have been some eyebrow raising choices over the years.
- _delirium 12y ago
  The cabinet doesn't directly award the prize, no. But Parliament chooses the people who choose the prize. That seems like exercising a pretty strong degree of control over who gets the prize, as with any other committee appointed by Parliament. And worse, they are specifically political appointments, not an attempt at appointing a quasi-independent "body of experts". There was a move some decades ago to change the makeup so the committee would be comprised of independent experts, from e.g. the academic, NGO, or scientific sectors, and maybe even including non-Norwegians. But that was rejected, so the committee continues to be staffed exclusively by important politicians. For example, the current committee has the following members: Thorbjørn Jagland (Labour Party), Kaci Kullmann Five (Conservatives), Inger-Marie Ytterhorn (Progress Party), Berit Reiss-Andersen (Labour Party), Gunnar Stålsett (Centre Party). A slightly different way of putting it might be: the Nobel Prize is awarded jointly by the major political parties of Norway, via their chosen representatives.

Crito 12y ago

The current reality is that the Norwegian Nobel Committee is a private body, and it is not currently the role of Norwegian Parliament to dictate to it who they may or may not award prizes to. Nobel may not have set it up that way personally, but that is how it is currently set up.

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sondr3 12y ago

But the Norwegian government has absolutely nothing to do with who gets the prize, which is the whole point here. The fact that China gets angry at Norway et al because of a committee in Norway gave the peace prize to someone almost nobody in China knows about is a bit petty.

digi_owl 12y ago
That could be because China looks at politics more like a old boys club than Norway does. Then again, there have been some eyebrow raising choices over the years.
_delirium 12y ago
The cabinet doesn't directly award the prize, no. But Parliament chooses the people who choose the prize. That seems like exercising a pretty strong degree of control over who gets the prize, as with any other committee appointed by Parliament. And worse, they are specifically political appointments, not an attempt at appointing a quasi-independent "body of experts". There was a move some decades ago to change the makeup so the committee would be comprised of independent experts, from e.g. the academic, NGO, or scientific sectors, and maybe even including non-Norwegians. But that was rejected, so the committee continues to be staffed exclusively by important politicians. For example, the current committee has the following members: Thorbjørn Jagland (Labour Party), Kaci Kullmann Five (Conservatives), Inger-Marie Ytterhorn (Progress Party), Berit Reiss-Andersen (Labour Party), Gunnar Stålsett (Centre Party). A slightly different way of putting it might be: the Nobel Prize is awarded jointly by the major political parties of Norway, via their chosen representatives.