The Nobel Prize: its history and significance

In order to provide both an illustration and a validation of the typology of intellectuals' involvement in the public sphere, I rely on the sample of the public intellectuals who are the Nobel Peace Prize laureates. As I have already mentioned in the introduction, there are many reasons why I have employed this sample for the study of public intellectuals' contribution to the strengthening of the democratic values of their societies and the global community. One of the main reasons is that this prize, from its inception in 1901, has become an international institution, the strict rules of the selection process ensuring that it is now a well-known and highly respected peace prize. Since the Nobel Peace Prize's publicity and prestige also result from its association with other Nobel Prizes, in order to understand fully its function and meaning we need first to present the general ideas behind the Nobel Prize, its selection process and the main mechanisms by which it functions. This is followed by a closer look at the Nobel Peace Prize and by a general presentation of the sample, chosen as interesting examples of the four categories of intellectuals' engagement and as providing a significant confirmation of the typology.