Nobel Peace Prize to Obama: A Heavy Burden?

By Jeevan Baniya

The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced an unexpected decision that the Nobel peace Prize had been awarded to US American Barack Obama for his initiatives to peace in the world through his international diplomacy and co-operation. The committee emphasized the emerging hopes for peace through Obama's calls for peace and cooperation for the better future and highlighted his commitments to reducing nuclear arms, improving relation with Muslim nations and fighting climate change.

It is true that he has shown outstanding leadership through his efforts in diplomatic spheres. But, the questions can be raised, and have been raised: how come has his only eight months of presidency ensured his chance for the award? Is he a worthy candidate at the moment? I think the answers can be sought in comparative perspectives; and arguments may vary person to person. Till the morning the Nobel Committee made the announcement, the award for me stood for achievements not intentions; but from today onwards my understanding is shaking.

Praising Obama’s steps to these fronts is, no doubt, justified. However, in the context when the results of his initiatives are yet to be realized and the America is still at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the decision has also drawn massive criticism; I think it is too early for Obama to deserve the award if the value of the Nobel Peace Award is something that really matters.

It is not unusual if any American president and his policy initiatives draw the attention of the world as long as the country is sitting on the driver’s seat of the international politics. Yet, if the decision has been driven by the normative values with the expectation for his future roles to the aforementioned fronts, one has to closely study the parameters of the committee on decision making process.

To look at the another part of the award, this award, I think, is going to be a heavy burden for Obama while the U.S war in Afghanistan is demanding more forces from the US, and in the pretext that Obama has already decided to fight terrorism in the region. As well, the domestic discontents regarding Obama policy towards Iran itself is going to be a challenge to fairly concentrate on peace building around the world. It is not easy to be optimistic on no civil casualties and injuries in the future while the Obama administration is sending more troops in Afghanistan and the troops have been attacking the civilians in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

If the award to Obama is to make him realize that the world is expecting great things in the days to follow so as to make this world a safer place to live in, Obama will have to go beyond the United State’s national interests in international fronts. For me, this is an uphill task for him even though it is not impossible.
Certainly, he does have the power to reshape this world, however, the American national interests and the domestic polarization within the US gives us a very gloomy picture to this expectation at least by now. And we have yet to see whether Obama can live up with his commitments to the people’s transferred expectations in the world and light the candle of peace in the years to come.

Let’s wait how Obama converts this burden into deeds.

(Baniya is a PhD candidate at the University of Oslo, Norway. He can be reached at: (baniyajeevan@hotmail.com)

This article was originally published in online news portal of nepal: www.nepalnews.com