How Do You Win the Nobel Peace Prize? A Juror Explains

There are just five people in the world who decide each year who wins the Nobel Peace Prize — and Asle Toje is one of them.

Asle Toje is a foreign policy scholar and author. As of last year, he is also the newest member of the Norwegian Nobel Peace Prize Committee.

In our conversation, we discuss how one wins the Nobel Peace Prize. Asle Toje discusses some of the behind-the-scenes work of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, including the kinds of considerations that he and the other jurors make when deciding who should win the Nobel Peace Prize. To the extent possible, this conversation brings you inside the room where every Nobel Peace Prize winner has been decided for most of the last 105 years.

We kick off with what with a discussion about the history of the Nobel Peace Prize and Alfred Nobel, before having an extended conversation about the process behind selecting the winner, certain controversies surrounding their decision over the years, and whether or not awarding the Nobel Peace Prize can influence broader political or policy outcomes in the service of peace.

This Global Dispatches Podcast episode is an incredibly unique opportunity to hear directly  from a Nobel Peace Prize juror and I think you will love it.

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Asle Toje’s newest book is called The Causes of Peace: What We Know Now

Listen to the Global Dispatches podcast interview with the 2017 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Beatrice Finh of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons

Listen to a conversation about how 2019 Nobel Peace Prize Winner, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed, has helped to spark a democratic renewal in Ethiopia and secure a peace agreement with Eritrea.