Congratulations Mr. President!

10 oktober 2009

President Obama deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. He has brought real change to the way we resolve international conflicts. Through the outstretched hand of diplomacy, not the iron fist of the unilateral -and illegitimate- use of force. In today's highly interdependent and increasingly multipolar world, dialogue is key to preventing and resolving conflicts. And that's precisely what President Obama has concretely achieved. He has transformed the old dualistic way of thinking into the only realistic approach towards meeting today's challenges: through openness, dialogue and cooperation. Personally, I find the criticism that awarding President Obama the Nobel Peace Prize is premature, shortsighted. It also shows a certain level of ignorance of international diplomacy. Though that is where the credits usually go, negotiating a peace deal is not the greatest achievement in a peace process, nor a guarantee for peace. Last year, Mr. Ahtisaari received the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to bring peace to Kosovo. Yet, Kosovo's status remains unresolved. Getting the parties to the negotiating table, keeping them there and convincing neighboring states that they have a stake in peace not war is often much more difficult. Through his openness to dialogue, President Obama offers a real prospect of resolving some of the world's most long-running and intractable conflicts. Critics say Obama is all talk no action. But that's exactly the point. There has been too much action no talk. Declaring a 'war on terror' may sound heroic but has not defeated Al-Qaeda, nor dried up its pool of recruits. Quite the opposite: more youngsters are willing to die for his cause and the horror scenario that states from where Al-Qaeda operates collapse and nuclear weapons fall into the wrong hands is more real than eight years ago. Military interventions -be they anti-terrorist or counter-insurgency- without concomitant diplomacy wreak havoc in societies without offering the prospect of peace, good governance or a decent future for its people. A sad statistic is that most countries in which we intervene return to war within five years of a conflict ending. Today's wars cannot be won militarily. Ask any general and he will tell you so. Scarcity of energy, water, food and minerals, climate change, the financial and economic crises, demographic changes, radicalisation, mass movements of people and the rise of new powers cannot be resolved or contained through the use of force. Today's security challenges are of a nature and scale and interwoven to an extent that require more diplomacy and cooperation than ever before. That's not to say the military has no role to play. But it will be a different role.

In 1919 President Woodrow Wilson received the Nobel Peace Prize for founding the League of Nations: a selective Victor's Club aimed at preventing future world wars. President Obama's diplomacy is much more ambitious: it encapsulates the entire world. This is the new leadership that today's uncertain world needs.

In 1964, Martin Luther King Jr. received the Nobel Peace Prize for having shown that a struggle can be waged without violence. Forty-five years later, 'I have a dream' has transformed into 'yes, we can.' But the inspiration of hope and change to the lives of millions is the same. If that is no achievement, what is?