Are you there, God? It’s me, Dan. Please don’t let them give me a Nobel Peace Prize

So, I see that the Nobel Peace Prize committee has become a retro music station — they’re trying to award the greatest hits of the past:  The European Union has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for six decades of work in advancing peace in Europe. The committee said the EU had helped to transform ...

By , a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast.

So, I see that the Nobel Peace Prize committee has become a retro music station -- they're trying to award the greatest hits of the past

So, I see that the Nobel Peace Prize committee has become a retro music station — they’re trying to award the greatest hits of the past

The European Union has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for six decades of work in advancing peace in Europe.

The committee said the EU had helped to transform Europe "from a continent of war to a continent of peace"

Let’s look a little more closely at that Nobel statement:

The union and its forerunners have for over six decades contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe….

The dreadful suffering in World War II demonstrated the need for a new Europe. Over a seventy-year period, Germany and France had fought three wars. Today war between Germany and France is unthinkable. This shows how, through well-aimed efforts and by building up mutual confidence, historical enemies can become close partners….

The EU is currently undergoing grave economic difficulties and considerable social unrest. The Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to focus on what it sees as the EU’s most important result: the successful struggle for peace and reconciliation and for democracy and human rights. The stabilizing part played by the EU has helped to transform most of Europe from a continent of war to a continent of peace.

The Nobel Peace Prize has been on an unfortunate downward trajectory for some time, and this Prize ain’t going to help matters, for a couple of reasons: 

1)  As the statement suggests, this award is entirely retrospective.  It’s for things the EU did in the past.  In contrast, Obama’s peace prize was suggestive of things he would do in the future.  There’s no consistency. 

2)  Look, the EU really does deserve a fair amount of credit for fostering a remarkably calm security situation in a bloody continent — but if the committee was going to be honest about things, then NATO and the U.S. Strategic Air Command would have been co-winners of that Peace Prize.

3)  Since the start of the 21st century, the following organizations have won a Nobel Peace Prize besides the EU:  The United Nations, the International Atomic Energy Agency, Grameen Bank, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.  So… maybe not winning a Nobel Peace Prize is better. 

Still, I would like to thank the Nobel committee for a very humorous start to this Friday. 

Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner

More from Foreign Policy

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping give a toast during a reception following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 21.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping give a toast during a reception following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 21.

Can Russia Get Used to Being China’s Little Brother?

The power dynamic between Beijing and Moscow has switched dramatically.

Xi and Putin shake hands while carrying red folders.
Xi and Putin shake hands while carrying red folders.

Xi and Putin Have the Most Consequential Undeclared Alliance in the World

It’s become more important than Washington’s official alliances today.

Russian President Vladimir Putin greets Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
Russian President Vladimir Putin greets Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

It’s a New Great Game. Again.

Across Central Asia, Russia’s brand is tainted by Ukraine, China’s got challenges, and Washington senses another opening.

Kurdish military officers take part in a graduation ceremony in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, on Jan. 15.
Kurdish military officers take part in a graduation ceremony in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, on Jan. 15.

Iraqi Kurdistan’s House of Cards Is Collapsing

The region once seemed a bright spot in the disorder unleashed by U.S. regime change. Today, things look bleak.