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A common criticism is the timing of the award. Does it come too early, does it come too late or does it hit the mark? I think the strength of the Nobel Peace Prize is that the recipient is often un- predictable. We redefine the criteria for the peace prize each year. co-authored two crime novels with former Minis- ter of Justice Anne Holt. Her abridged remarks at the Spring Meeting follow: I am here to tell you about a most remarkable man, Alfred Nobel, and one of the prizes awarded every year according to his will, the Nobel Peace Prize. Alfred Nobel was born in 1833 in Stockholm and led a remarkable life. He was an accomplished sci- entist, owning more than 750 patents, without hav- ing attended university. He was particularly gifted in chemistry. While nitroglycerin had already been developed, it was highly unstable and sensitive to detonation from shock. Alfred Nobel figured out how to stabilize nitroglycerin by mixing it with a form of clay. He called his invention dynamite. It had civilian purposes, but its use in the weapons industry enabled him to amass a great fortune. He was considered one of the wealthiest men on earth when he died in 1896. It is perhaps his death that holds more signifi- cance to history than his life; for his death re- vealed a will, handwritten, with notes scribbled in the margin, on one sheet of paper that says “Tes- tament” at the top. He wrote it himself, without the interference of lawyers, and instructed that “the capital \[of my estate\], invested in safe securi- ties by my executors, shall constitute a fund, the interest on which shall be annually distributed in the form of \[five\] prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind.” The Peace Prize, the only one to be awarded by a Norwegian Committee rather than a Swedish one, is awarded to the per- son “who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, the abo- lition or reduction of standing armies, and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.” The most understandable clause is the first one: to advance fraternity among nations. Over time, it has been expanded to include fraternity be- tween peoples. The second clause, abolition or reduction of standing armies, is the disarmament term of the will. The least understood clause is the third, the establishment and promotion of peace congresses. Peace congresses, the means by which nations resolved disputes in the 1880s, don’t really exist anymore. But it’s important to view Alfred Nobel in the context of all the prizes he established: phys- ics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace. His is the mindset of a 19th century man who believed in progress and making life better for humankind through science and invention – physics, chemistry, and medicine. But he also understood that we need spiritual food, like literature. And he understood that the most important prerequisite for our advancement was security – peace. This is the threshold for all the Nobel prizes: in any field, the work must be of a quality that is to the greatest benefit of humankind. The observant listener will have noticed that I did not mention the No- bel prize of economy. There’s a simple reason: There is no Nobel prize of economy. Instead, the Sveriges Riksbank (Sweden’s central bank) estab- lished the Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, but it is not an award specifically provided for in his will. Given its ambiguity, the Nobel Peace Prize Committee must interpret Alfred Nobel’s will and adapt to our time. There is no such thing as “originalism” in the Nobel Committee, but we do apply a legal meth- od, trying to understand the will in the context of and according to the person who created the testament. Alfred Nobel was so creative and wealthy he was able to look to the future and imagine improving the condition of humankind through his inventions. We interpret his will through that lens and apply its principles to the current day. The Nobel Peace Prize has always had its fair share of critics. It is often criticized for being a human rights prize, but honoring human rights is a deep tradition that began with the first prize, awarded in 1901. The first Nobel Peace Prize recipients were Frédéric Passy, a veteran of peace congresses who had dedicated his life to promoting reconciliation be- tween nations, and Henry Dunant, who established the International Red Cross, and who demanded that during wartime, humanitarian standards must also prevail. \[For more detail on that, look at our last issue, Winter 2023 (Issue 101), p.81.\] We have awarded the prize several times to organizations, awards which faced criticism, but we insist that organizations can accom- plish goals of great importance that are consistent with Alfred Nobel’s will. For example, organizations that address social justice and advance international law and order when it comes to nuclear weapons include the United Nations, the League of Nations, and of course, ILO, the International Labor Organization. So far, despite countless internal and external efforts to broker peace between Israel and Palestine, peace has not been achieved. But sev- eral peace prizes have been awarded in relation to work to achieve that goal. Were they too early? The first person of color and the first person of African descent to receive the prize was Ralph Bunche, an SUMMER 2023 JOURNAL 46