Nobel Peace Prize

The decision to award this year's Nobel Peace Prize to US President Barack Obama was greeted with surprise in many parts of the world. Although the choice was swiftly condemned by the Taliban and parts of the Middle East, reaction in other parts of the world - particularly Europe - has generally been more positive.

Selecting Obama from a field of 205 candidates, the Nobel committee highlighted Obama's work to reduce the world's stockpile of nuclear weapons and his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."

"Only rarely has a person such as Obama captured the world's attention and given his people hope for a better future," the selection committee said.

In contrast to the Taliban, Iran said it was "not upset" by the decision, with a spokesman for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad saying he hoped that the award "would prompt Obama to start working toward ending injustice in the world."

Critics say choice is premature

The choice of Obama, who is only nine months into his presidency, has been criticized by some commentators as premature - particularly because he took office only weeks before nominations for the award closed in February.

Although the first African-American US president has been praised for his attempts to restart the stalled Middle East peace process, critics claim that the chances of an Israeli-Palestinian settlement are as remote as ever.

Similar criticisms are leveled against Obama over the US's disarmament talks with Russia, attempts to prevent Iran from achieving a nuclear weapon and the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan, where more US troops could soon be sent.

Although Obama has also changed the hostile approach to climate change which characterized George Bush's administration, it is still unclear whether this will lead to substantial change at talks in Copenhagen later this year.

On the subject of human rights, Obama has been praised for promising to close the controversial Guantanamo Bay detention centre, which is supposed to be closed by early next year.

Prize seen as incentive for US to do more

A comment piece which appeared on Friday in the London Times newspaper described the Nobel committee's decision as a "way of expressing European gratitude for an end to the Bush administration, approval for the election of America's first black president and hope that Washington will honor its promise to reengage with the world."

Other commentators have said that the Norwegian committee was honoring Obama's intentions and hopes rather than his actual achievements.

Dana Allin, a US foreign policy expert at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, said he was not surprised by the criticisms.

"I think those sorts of comments are inevitable," he told Deutsche Welle. "This decision is obviously going to be controversial. Obama has only been in office for a few months whereas previous US presidents to have received the award - such as Jimmy Carter - had been in office for longer and had actually brokered peace agreements."

"Obviously Obama has not been in office long enough to do any of those things. That is not his fault and is in fact a credit to what he has achieved so far."

As an example of the sea change that Obama has brought about Allin pointed to a recent poll which found that the US was the most popular country in the world. "That is an astounding result given where we were only a year ago," Allin said.

"Obama has taken some very significant stops in taking the US in a new direction. I think he has done some remarkable things in a short time."

Allin also pointed to Obama's recent decision to scrap plans for a missile shield system as as a significant step toward his stated objective of ridding the world of nuclear weapons.

On the subject of Iran's nuclear ambitions, Allin said that Obama "is doing the best one could do" and that recent developments pointed to a possible "way out of the impasse."

The decision to award this year's Nobel Peace Prize to Obama was welcomed in Brussels by the European Commission. Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the decision "was a reflection of the hopes Obama has raised globally with his vision of a world without nuclear weapons."

"This award is an encouragement for engagement by all those who can contribute to bring about a safer world," Barroso said.

Marco Incerti, a foreign policy analyst at the Brussels-based Center for European Policy Studies, said that the decision to honor Obama had clearly been made on the basis of potential rather than concrete achievements.

Obama expected to deliver

Although the decision might be dismissed by some as a gesture, there was no doubt that Obama's arrival on the world stage had brought with it an "atmosphere of good will which is beginning to prevail in certain parts of the world."

The recent decision to scrap the missile shield was a tangible sign of progress, as were the "attempts to reach out to Iran."

"Those are just two examples of Barack Obama improving the world," Incerti said. "In a short space of time his impact on international affairs has been quite dramatic."

There was also no doubt that trans-Atlantic relations had improved dramatically since Obama took over from previous US president George Bush, Incerti added.

Peter Liese, a German member of the European Parliament, said that Obama would have to justify his receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize over the coming years.

"Obama has done some important things in a small number of areas, but many of his election promises remain unfulfilled," Liese said. "When it comes to climate change Obama has been particularly disappointing."

Author: Mark Latham
Editor: Rob Mudge