After less than a year in office, Barack Obama, the US president, won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize for what was described as his 'extraordinary efforts in international diplomacy'.
 
The Nobel committee praised him for giving people hope of a better world.

Obama was one of over 200 nominees for the peace prize. The deadline for nominations closed just 12 days after he took office.
 
The award has been greeted with both praise and scepticism and even Obama was stunned and humbled by the decision of the Nobel committee.

We discuss the motives behind granting the Nobel Peace Prize to Barack Obama and ask: Does he deserve it? What peace has he achieved? Or was the award granted in the hope he would succeed in the future?

Inside Story presenter Nick Clark is joined by Ambassador Richard Murphy, a former US diplomat, Robert Fisk, the Middle East correspondent for the UK-based newspaper Independent, and Azzam Tamimi, a political analyst and director of the Institute of Islamic Political Thought.

This episode of Inside Story aired from Sunday, October 11, 2009.