Major Developments Major Developments by Calendar Year

US President Barack Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for the year 2009. According to the Nobel Committee Obama won the prize for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. Obama’s efforts for nuclear disarmament were well appreciated.

There was widespread surprise at the committee’s decision. Many people were skeptical and commented that the decision had come too soon, even before Obama had made any concrete foreign policy achievement. The Nobel laureate chosen by a five-member committee wins a gold medal, a diploma, and 10 million Swedish kronor (US$1.4million). According to the Nobel committee, the reason why prize was awarded to Obama less than a year after he took office was that the Nobel committee wanted to support what he was trying to achieve. Obama’s efforts to transform the world into a nuclear free planet were noticed by the Nobel committee. French president Nicolas Sarkozy said the award confirmed that America’s return to the hearts of the people of the world.

The Nobel Prize in Economics is officially known as “The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel” and was announced on October 12, 2009. The Nobel Prize in Economics for 2009 was awarded jointly to Elinor Ostrom for her work on analysis of economic governance, especially the commons and Oliver Williamson for his work on analysis of economic governance, especially the boundaries of the firm. As soon as the prize was announced, the winners were criticized by the traditionalists as unknown in the field of New Institutional Economics, and even unworthy of the honor. However, Douglass North, recipient of the Nobel Prize in economics, 1993 was pleased at the announcement of this year’s winners and welcomed the two pioneers to the Nobel Prize winner’s circle.

Elinor Ostrom, Ph.D, is Professor at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs and the Arthur F. Bentley Professor of Political Science, both at Indiana University, Bloomington.
Oliver Williamson, Ph.D, is the Edgar F. Kaiser Professor Emeritus of Business, Economics and Law, and Professor at the Graduate School, both at the University of California, Berkeley.