A peace prize without peace: does the Nobel Committee have a chance to find a peacemaker among wars and conflicts?

The week of announcing the winners of the Nobel Prizes has started – the highest awards in several scientific fields, in literature, economics and the field of peacekeeping, which is the biggest intrigue of the ceremony, because the names of peacemaker candidates have been kept secret by the Nobel committee for 50 years.

The awarding of the Nobel Prize was started in 1901 according to the will of the Swedish entrepreneur, inventor and philanthropist Alfred Nobel. He donated his fortune to create and finance an international award. The annual profit from the Nobel legacy should be divided equally between those who, during the previous year, made the greatest contribution to the development of humanity in various fields of activity.

Currently, the prize money in each category is 11 million Swedish kroner ($1.1 million), the laureates also receive a diploma and a gold medal. 

The award for achievements in peacekeeping usually receives the greatest media attention. And although the names of the nominees are not disclosed, the mass media and bookmakers somehow share insider information obtained from influential organizations involved in the nomination of candidates. As written Reuters, this year the Nobel committee focused on humanitarians who help alleviate the suffering of civilians suffering from the war in Ukraine, the bloodshed in Sudan, the escalation of the conflict between Israel and Hamas. The UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), the UN International Court of Justice and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres are named among the main contenders for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.  

The US has the highest number of Peace Prize laureates, including Martin Luther King Jr., Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama, as well as an organization such as the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. France also has many distinguished laureates, including Frédéric Passy, ​​one of the first laureates of the prize, and René Cassin, co-author of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. America has the largest number of Nobel Prize winners overall. 

The International Committee of the Red Cross, founded in Switzerland, has repeatedly received awards for its humanitarian activities. However, his passivity in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war now raises many questions.

Among the British laureates, Bertha von Suettner and the organization “Amnesty International” stand out, which made a significant contribution to the maintenance of peace and the protection of human rights.

German Chancellor Willy Brandt won the prize for his efforts to improve relations between East and West during the Cold War, making him one of the key figures in the peaceful resolution of conflicts at the time.

In addition to the Peace Prize, awards will also be given to other prominent figures and scientists. On the first day of Nobel Week, October 7, the committee announced the laureates in the fields of physiology and medicine. They were American scientists Victor Ambros and Gary Ravkun. They were awarded for the discovery of miRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation. As we can see on the infographic, it is about the industry where the awards were presented most often during the entire existence of the award. The same number of awards (220) was won by physicists. 

On October 8, the Nobel Committee announced the laureates of the prize in the field of physics. They were John Hopfield and Geoffrey Everest Ginton for their “fundamental discoveries and inventions that made possible machine learning based on artificial neural networks.” These achievements opened new horizons for modern science and technology, laying the foundation for the development of artificial intelligence and its application in various fields.

Ukrainians or people of Ukrainian origin also became Nobel Prize laureates, although such cases are few. 

Ilya Mechnikov (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1908) — was born in Kharkiv province. Together with Paul Ehrlich, he received a prize for research in the field of immunity, in particular for the discovery of phagocytosis.

Simon Kuznets (Nobel Prize in Economics, 1971) was born in Kharkiv and emigrated to the USA. Awarded for research on economic growth and development of the system of national accounts, including GDP.

Roald Hoffmann (Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1981) — born in Zolochiv, Lviv Region. Awarded for the development of theoretical models of chemical reactions.

George Sharpak (Nobel Prize in Physics, 1992) — was born in Dubrovitsa, Rivne region. Awarded for the development of gas detectors for the study of particles.

Svitlana Aleksievich (Nobel Prize for Literature, 2015) is a native of Ivano-Frankivsk, awarded for documentary works about difficult historical events, in particular Chernobyl and the war in Afghanistan.

Although Ukraine has few laureates, their contribution to science and culture is significant.

In the history of the Nobel Prize, there have been cases when laureates refused the award due to personal convictions or due to political pressure. In particular, in 1973, Le Dik Tho, a representative of North Vietnam, together with Henry Kissinger, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating an end to the war in Vietnam and signing the Paris Peace Agreement. However, Le Dik Tho refused the award, arguing that true peace in Vietnam had not yet been achieved, and he could not accept the award while the conflict continued. 

In 2024, one of the most discussed figures for the Nobel Peace Prize is Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, who is often included by bookmakers and experts in the list of favorites. However, as in the case of Le Dik Tho, there is a valid reason why Zelensky is unlikely to win this prestigious award. After all, he is the head of a state that is at war, and peace in which has not yet been achieved. 

At the same time, there is a possibility that the Nobel Peace Prize may not be awarded in 2024. “Perhaps this is the year the Nobel Peace Prize committee should abandon the prize and pay attention to the fact that our planet is at war,” said Dan Smith, head of the Stockholm Institute for Peace Studies, in an interview with Reuters.