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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Peter Dierks who wrote (37757)	10/25/2009 8:59:12 PM
From: Peter Dierks	Respond to of 71588

The Nobel Antidote An honorable decision not to award a prize. OCTOBER 24, 2009. Nothing in the world of political thinking has caused such a stir recently as the Norwegian committee's decision to give this year's Nobel Peace Prize to President Barack Obama. From left to right, the reaction was much the same: The Nobel for peace this year was a prize about nothing, insofar as the recipient got it for promise rather than performance. So it comes as a much-needed antidote this week to see the result from Africa's most prestigious prize for performance in public life. The foundation that runs the Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership said this week its prize would go to . . . no one. Though not widely known, the prize, created by Sudanese-born billionaire Mo Ibrahim in 2007, is one of the more thoughtful efforts at bestowing honor on a public figure. For starters, the prize can go only to a democratically elected head of state in Africa. But here's the kicker: The winner has to have left office in the previous three years. Mr. Ibrahim clearly is all too aware of Africa's history of being governed by strongmen who either don't bother holding an election, or if they do, ensure that they win—forever. So he's designed his prize with the world's biggest carrot: The winner gets $5 million spread over 10 years, plus $200,000 for life annually. We'd call this one of the more creative exercises in term limits. When he established the prize, Mr. Ibrahim made clear there would be years when no one got it. What makes this year's Ibrahim nonprize doubly ironic is that its committee includes 2007 Nobel Peace Prize winner Martti Ahtisaari of Finland and former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan. The committee didn't give reasons for its decision, but the diminished Nobel was difficult to ignore. Mr. Obama gave a strong and widely admired speech on African governance in Ghana this past July. He said the U.S. would support African "parliaments which check abuses of power and ensure that opposition voices are heard." These words surely encouraged democratic movements across the continent. The decision by the Ibrahim Prize to wait until someone deserves it suggests Africans are serious about a future that extends past promise to performance. Nothing would help them more than a partnership with this American presidency that was similarly committed to performance. online.wsj.com