The Nobel Peace Prize committee is a closeted group of virtue signalers who reward choices that fit neatly into a Western-centric liberal moral box. In a multipolar world, where the Global South is no more a footnote, there’s very little space for an organisation that hands out a prize that is a curated recognition exalting western moral and strategic dogma. – Rahul Shivshankar
American President Donald Trump believes he is the top contender for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2026. Diplomacy was never his strong suit, but then neither is honesty.
So, Trump, in true ‘Trump style’, has burnished his claims by taking credit for affecting ceasefires where he arguably had no role and where the protagonists themselves see him as an interloper and not a mediator.
But Trump’s right to not get too worked up about lacking the credentials. It could be argued with some conviction that the Nobel Peace Prize jury itself doesn’t always let the truth get in the way when handing out the award.
So, the question that we need to engage with is not whether he will win, but how the once-coveted award is now reduced to merely a punchline.
For starters, the process itself lacks transparency. Who decided who has made “peace”? Apparently, it’s all left to the judgement of five Norwegians, hopefully as invested in pacifism as the country they are from.
Norway, in case you were unaware, is doctrinally invested in “peace diplomacy”. That’s one of the reasons why it’s sought out so often to broker peace in theatres of conflict globally.
But while Norway’s interventions are open to scrutiny, the five Norwegian jurists don’t famously minute their deliberations, they don’t invite outside scrutiny and, therefore, are above accountability. Even the nominations for the Nobel are sealed for 50 years.
Given the opacity that shrouds the process, it’s hard to comprehend why, for instance, Mahatma Gandhi—apostle of peace to swathes of humanity—hasn’t ever won the Nobel for Peace. The self-abnegating privations of the world’s most peaceful revolutionary led to the collapse of the British Empire that ruled over an area of darkness over which the sun ironically never set.
Gandhi, a slightly built Indian man armed with nothing more than the moral and metaphorical lathi of non-violence, inspired Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Junior and Barack Obama. All three disciples incidentally won the Nobel but not the guru.
Henry Kissinger, the cold-warring career mandarin, has shockingly won. The Vietnam War he supposedly stopped rolled on. He went on to plot the bombing of Cambodia, Laos and Chilean regime change efforts.
Two Nobel Prize committee members resigned in protest. Convenient. Wouldn’t it have been better to resign after reforming the process? Had they, Obama, the European Union, Arafat, Peres, Rabin and Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed, to name but a few, may not have won the Peace Prize at all.
Today, many see the Nobel Peace Prize committee as a closeted group of virtue signalers who reward choices that fit neatly into a Western-centric liberal moral box. In a multipolar world, where the Global South is no more a footnote, there’s very little space for an organisation that hands out a prize that is a curated recognition exalting Western moral and strategic dogma.
Think of the Nobel Prize committee as a modern-day United Nations Security Council. How relevant is the latter? – News18, 4 August 2025
› Rahul Shivshankar is a journalist, TV anchor and consulting editor at Network18.
Filed under: india, USA | Tagged: donald trump, false claims, nobel peace prize, public image, stolen honour | Comments Off on Donald Trump: The Nobel Peace Prize has lost its nobility long back – Rahul Shivshankar
