The Norwegian Nobel Committee
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The Norwegian Nobel Committee ( no, Den norske Nobelkomité) selects the recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize each year on behalf of Swedish industrialist
Alfred Nobel Alfred Bernhard Nobel ( , ; 21 October 1833 – 10 December 1896) was a Swedes, Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor, businessman, and Philanthropy, philanthropist. He is best known for having bequeathed his fortune to establish the Nobel ...
's
estate Estate or The Estate may refer to: Law * Estate (law), a term in common law for a person's property, entitlements and obligations * Estates of the realm, a broad social category in the histories of certain countries. ** The Estates, representat ...
, based on instructions of Nobel's
will Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will ...
. Five members are appointed by the Norwegian Parliament. In his will,
Alfred Nobel Alfred Bernhard Nobel ( , ; 21 October 1833 – 10 December 1896) was a Swedes, Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor, businessman, and Philanthropy, philanthropist. He is best known for having bequeathed his fortune to establish the Nobel ...
tasked the parliament of Norway with selecting the winners of the Nobel Peace Prize. At the time, Norway and
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
were in a loose personal union. Despite its members being appointed by Parliament, the committee is a private body tasked with awarding a private prize. In recent decades, most committee members were retired politicians. The committee is assisted by its secretariat, Norwegian Nobel Institute. The committee holds their meetings in the institute's building, where the winner is also announced. Since 1990, however, the award ceremony takes place in
Oslo City Hall Oslo City Hall ( no, Oslo rådhus) is a municipal building in Oslo, the capital of Norway. It houses the city council, the city's administration and various other municipal organisations. The building as it stands today was constructed between ...
.


History

Alfred Nobel Alfred Bernhard Nobel ( , ; 21 October 1833 – 10 December 1896) was a Swedes, Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor, businessman, and Philanthropy, philanthropist. He is best known for having bequeathed his fortune to establish the Nobel ...
died in December 1896. In January 1897 the contents of his
will Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will ...
were unveiled. It was written as early as in 1895. He declared that a Nobel Peace Prize should be awarded "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses", and that some of Nobel's money was to be donated to this prize. The
Nobel Foundation The Nobel Foundation ( sv, Nobelstiftelsen) is a private institution founded on 29 June 1900 to manage the finances and administration of the Nobel Prizes. The foundation is based on the last will of Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite. It ...
manages the assets. The other Nobel Prizes were to be awarded by Swedish bodies (
Swedish Academy The Swedish Academy ( sv, Svenska Akademien), founded in 1786 by King Gustav III of Sweden, Gustav III, is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, Royal Academies of Sweden. Its 18 members, who are elected for life, comprise the highest Swedish lang ...
,
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special ...
, Karolinska Institutet) that already existed, whereas the responsibility for the Peace Prize was given to the Norwegian Parliament, specifically "a committee of five persons to be elected" by it. A new body had to be created—the Norwegian Nobel Committee. Jurist
Fredrik Heffermehl Fredrik Stang Heffermehl (born 11 November 1938) is a Norwegian jurist, writer and peace activist. He formerly worked as a lawyer and civil servant from 1965 to 1982 and was the first secretary-general of the Norwegian Humanist Association from 19 ...
has noted that a legislative body could not necessarily be expected to handle a judicial task like managing a legal will. The task of a parliament is to create and change laws whereas a will can not be changed unless the premises are clearly outdated. However, this question was not debated in depth, out of contemporary fear that the donated money might be lost in legal battles if the body was not created soon.Heffermehl, 2008: p. 72 On 26 April 1897 the Norwegian Parliament accepted the assignment and on 5 August the same year it formalized the process of election and service time for committee members.Heffermehl, 2008: pp. 53–54 The first Peace Prize was awarded in 1901 to Henri Dunant and Frédéric Passy. In the beginning, the committee was filled with active parliamentarians and the annual reports were discussed in parliamentary sessions. These ties to the Norwegian Parliament were later weakened so that the committee became more independent. Accordingly, the name was changed from the Norwegian Nobel Committee to the Nobel Committee of the Norwegian Parliament ( no, Det norske Stortings Nobelkomité) in 1901, but changed back in 1977. Now, active parliamentarians cannot sit on the committee, unless they have explicitly stated their intent to step down shortly. Nonetheless, the committee is still composed mainly of politicians. A 1903 proposition to elect a law scholar ( Ebbe Hertzberg) was rejected. In late 1948, the election system was changed to make the committee more proportional with parliamentary representation of Norwegian political parties. The Norwegian Labour Party, which controlled a simple majority of seats in the Norwegian Parliament orchestrated this change. This practice has been cemented, but sharply criticized. There have been propositions about including non-Norwegian members in the committee, but this has never happened. The Norwegian Nobel Committee is assisted by the Norwegian Nobel Institute, established in 1904. The committee might receive well more than a hundred nominations and asks the Nobel Institute in February every year to research about twenty candidates. The director of the Nobel Institute also serves as secretary to the Norwegian Nobel Committee; currently this position belongs to Olav Njølstad.


List of Chairpersons

;List of chairpersonsHeffermehl, 2008: pp. 60–64 *1900–1901:
Bernhard Getz Bernhard Getz (21 March 1850 – 1 November 1901) was a Norwegian judge, professor, law reformer and Mayor of Oslo. He was born at Strinda in Sør-Trøndelag, Norway. He was the son of merchant Anton Lauritz Getz (1817–68) and Anna Chris ...
*1901–1922: Jørgen Løvland *1922–1922: Hans Jacob Horst *1922–1941: Fredrik Stang *1941–1943: Gunnar Jahn *1944–1945: ''see below'' *1945–1945: Carl Joachim Hambro *1945–1966: Gunnar Jahn *1967–1967: Nils Langhelle *1967–1967: Bernt Ingvaldsen *1968–1978: Aase Lionæs *1979–1981:
John Sanness John Christian Munthe Sanness (24 May 1913 – 6 November 1984) was a Norwegian historian and politician for the Labour Party. He is known as the director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs from 1960 to 1983, professor at the Univ ...
*1982–1989:
Egil Aarvik Egil Aarvik () (12 December 1912 – 19 July 1990) was a Norwegian newspaper editor, author and politician for the Christian Democratic Party. He served as Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee from 1982 to 1990. Early life and career He ...
*1990–1990:
Gidske Anderson Gidske Anderson (4 November 1921 – 19 October 1993) was a Norwegian journalist, editor and author. Biography She was born in Oslo, Norway. Her parents were Yngve Anderson (1892-–1981) and Gidske Halvorsen (1895–1985). She studied at Aars ...
*1991–1999: Francis Sejersted *2000–2002: Gunnar Berge *2003–2008:
Ole Danbolt Mjøs Ole Danbolt Mjøs (8 March 1939 – 1 October 2013) was a Norwegian physician and politician for the Christian Democratic Party. A professor and former rector at the University of Tromsø, he was known worldwide as the leader of the Norwegian No ...
*2009–2015:
Thorbjørn Jagland Thorbjørn Jagland (born Thorbjørn Johansen; , 5 November 1950) is a Norwegian politician from the Labour Party. He served as the secretary general of the Council of Europe from 2009 to 2019. He served as the 32nd prime minister of Norway from ...
*2015–2017: Kaci Kullmann Five *2017–present: Berit Reiss-Andersen In January 1944 an attempt by the Quisling government to take over the functions of the Nobel Committee led to the resignation of Jahn and other committee members. The Swedish consulate-general in Oslo formally took over the management of the Foundation's Oslo property on behalf of the Nobel Foundation.


Members

The members are: * Berit Reiss-Andersen (chair, born 1954),
advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. Different countries' legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a barrister or a solicitor. However, ...
(barrister) and president of the
Norwegian Bar Association The Norwegian Bar Association ( no, Den Norske Advokatforening) is an association of Norwegian lawyers. It was established in 1908 as , and assumed its current name from 1965. As of 2008 the association had about 7,000 members. Among its publicati ...
, former state secretary for the Minister of Justice and the Police (representing the Labour Party). Member of the Norwegian Nobel Committee since 2012, reappointed for the period 2018–2023. *
Anne Enger Anne Enger, formerly Anne Enger Lahnstein (born 9 December 1949), is a Norwegian politician who served as County Governor of Østfold from 2004 until 2015, and Leader of the Centre Party from 1991 to 1999, with opposition to the European Union. ...
(born 1949), former Leader of the Centre Party and Minister of Culture. Appointed for the period 2018–2020, and reappointed for the period 2021–2026. * Asle Toje (born 1974), foreign policy scholar. Appointed for the period 2018–2023. *
Kristin Clemet Kristin Clemet (born 20 April 1957, in Harstad) is a Norwegian politician for Høyre, Norway's Conservative Party. She was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Oslo in 1989, but was not re-elected in 1993. She had previously served as a deput ...
, former
Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...
cabinet member who previously represented Oslo in Norwegian Parliament. Appointed for the period 2021–2026. *
Jørgen Watne Frydnes Jørgen Watne Frydnes (born 1984) is a Norwegian administrator and politician. Career Frydnes has been CEO of Utøya AS since 2011. Utøya and Frydnes received the Fritt Ord Honorary Award in 2021. In 2020 he was elected member of the Norwegia ...
, appointed for the period 2021–2026.


Secretariat

The committee is assisted by the Norwegian Nobel Institute, its secretariat. The leader of the institute holds the title secretary. The secretary is not a member of the committee, but is an employee of the Norwegian Nobel Institute. ;List of secretaries *1901–1909:
Christian Lous Lange Christian Lous Lange (17 September 1869 – 11 December 1938) was a Norwegian historian, teacher, and political scientist. He was one of the world's foremost exponents of the theory and practice of internationalism. Early life and education He ...
*1910–1945: Ragnvald Moe *1946–1973: August Schou *1974–1977:
Tim Greve Tim Greve (20 February 1928 – 27 April 1986) was a Norwegian historian, biographer, civil servant, diplomat and newspaper editor. Personal life Greve was born in Bergen as the son of consul Arent Wittendorph Greve (1892–1950) and Anna Gad ...
*1978–1989:
Jakob Sverdrup Jakob Sverdrup may refer to: *Jakob Sverdrup (politician) (1845–1899), Norwegian bishop and politician *Jakob Sverdrup (philologist) (1881–1938), Norwegian philologist *Jakob Sverdrup (historian) Jakob Sverdrup (30 November 1919 – 5 December ...
*1990–2015:
Geir Lundestad Geir Lundestad (born January 17, 1945) is a Norwegian historian, who until 2014 served as the director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute when Olav Njølstad took over. In this capacity, he also served as the secretary of the Norwegian Nobel Commi ...
*2015–present: Olav Njølstad


References

;Notes ;Bibliography * *Heffermehl, Fredrik (2010). ''The Nobel Peace Prize. What Nobel really wanted. Sta Barbara: Praeger. .


External links


Norwegian Nobel Committee
nbsp;– official site
Nobel Prize
nbsp;– official site {{Authority control Organisations based in Oslo Organizations established in 1901 1901 establishments in Norway Nobel Peace Prize