“I will never get the Nobel Peace Prize, no matter what I do,” wrote Donald Trump on his social network in June, after welcoming the peace agreements concluded during his two terms. His supporters and allies lead a campaign to promote his candidacy. A ceasefire agreement in Ukraine would cement its aura as a peacemaker in the eyes of its base.
“I think he would really like to obtain a Nobel Peace Prize for the end of the conflict in Ukraine,” says Sarah Ann Oates, professor at the University of Maryland.
At the bend of a conversation on customs duties, a few weeks ago, the American president questioned the Minister of Finance of Norway – where the price is awarded – on the distinction, revealed a Norwegian daily newspaper on Thursday, on the eve of the expected summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
At various times in recent years, he has repeated that he should have already received it.
Candidacy
The deadline to submit a candidacy for 2025 is exceeded from the 1er FEBRUARY. Among the 338 applications received, including 94 organizations, the recipient will be unveiled in October, according to the Norwegian Nobel Committee website.
Simple citizens cannot offer a candidate, but members of a government, the International Court of Justice and university professors of certain disciplines, in particular, are empowered to do so.
Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu announced in July that he had proposed Trump for this global recognition. Like Cambodian Minister Hun Manet on August 7, following a ceasefire with Thailand. After their visit to the White House to seal a peace agreement, the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia also noted their support for his candidacy.
“It is more than time that President Trump is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize,” said his spokesperson Karoline Leavitt.
A “fundamentally political” prize
This threshing serves two goals, says Ronald Krebs, professor of political science at the University of Minnesota. First, “flattering the chief narcissist ego,” he said, to maintain good relations with the president. But also to galvanize the troops against these well-righteous elites on the left. Which, in all likelihood, will continue to refuse him this honor.
“The Nobel Peace Prize is fundamentally political,” recalls the professor. And how could it not be? All his vision is to advance a universal value of peace. »»
The prize has been awarded since 1901, in accordance with the testament of the rich Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, to reward the person “who will have done the most or the best work for the fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of permanent armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses”.
Since the second half of the XXe A century, the Norwegian Nobel Committee, made up of five members appointed by the Norwegian Parliament, has expanded its vision to include not only actions linked directly to the appeasement of conflicts, but also to the defense of human rights, equity and democracy.
By including the awards for national political struggles – as with his recognition of Martin Luther King’s work in 1964 – the committee was “expressly political”, attracting criticism from the opposite camps, notes Mr. Krebs.
The committee also sometimes celebrates a vision more than a result, as a form of encouragement. In 1994, it was jointly granted to the Palestinian Yasser Arafat and the Israelis Shimon Perez and Yitzhak Rabin for “their efforts to create peace in the Middle East”. President Barack Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, less than a year after his arrival at the White House-the ex-secretary of the Gier Lundestad Committee later admitted that the award had not had the desired effect.
The Nobel Peace Prize is not revocable. Some winners fell into controversy after having received it, such as Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali.
Winner
Even if he facilitated peace agreements between Russia and Ukraine, Trump’s assessment would be analyzed beyond signed agreements. “If the committee gave it, I have the impression that it would devalue what the price represents,” says Mr.me Oates, quoting his actions to “undermine the Constitution and destroy the rights of the Americans”.
Her chances of winning are “almost nonexistent”, she insists.
A reality that Trump and his team certainly know, perceiving the committee as the “heart of an idealistic liberal tradition” which they execute, underlines Mr. Krebs. “This is a win-win situation for him,” he analyzes. If he won him, he would be recognized as a peacemaker. If he does not win it – what is more likely – is because they have values contrary to his, it is essentially because they are too “wokes”. »»
The selection process is surrounded by mystery. The names of the candidates remain secret for 50 years, unless a person involved in sending a file herself announces it.
After the application period, the committee members study the files and select around 20 to 30 files to be evaluated in depth, before voting, majority, for the winner (s). The price is awarded on December 10 in Oslo.
With Newsweek and Reuters
