THE WORLD PORTAL

ELINOR OSTROM

An American political scientist, Elinor Ostrom won the Nobel Prize in economics along with Oliver Williamson for their research on economic administration. Their work showed that how economic transactions operate outside markets in common spaces and within companies. By winning this prize, Ostrom became the first woman to win the Economics Nobel prize since it was founded in 1968 and the fifth woman to win a Nobel award this year. Ostrom will share 10 million Swedish kronor prize money with Williamson.

BIOGRAPHY

Elinor Ostrom was born on 7th August, 1933 in United States. She gained BA, MA and Ph.D in political science from University of California, Los Angeles. She grew up at the time of economic depression and her works always links the economy with the environment. Her works shown that informal groups can sometimes manage natural resources such as forests and lakes better than private companies or the government. Now she is the Arthur F. Bentley Professor of Political Science, and Co-Director of the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis at Indiana University Bloomington. In addition, she is a member of the United States ‘National Academy of Sciences’ and previous president of the ‘American Political Science’Association. She was written many books in the fields of organizational theory, political science, and public administration.

AWARDS

Nobel prize in economics was the highest award in Ostrom’s life. In addition, she had gained many awards in her life. In 1999, she gained ‘Johan Skytte Prize’ in Political Science and became the first woman to win this prize. She is the receiptant of ‘James Madison Award’ by the American Political Science Association in 2005, ‘William H. Riker Prize’ in political science in 2008 and ‘Tisch Civic Engagement Research Prize’ from the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts University in 2009.

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER - BARACK OBAMA

First African American President of the United States, Barack Obama added another honor in his life. He won this year’s Nobel peace prize for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between people. He was selected for this award from 205 nominations including Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, Colombian senator Piedad Cordoba and Chinese dissident Hu Jia etc. Obama is a good positive thinker, and he captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future. He created a new climate in international politics. Really, this award is an honor of his vision and work for a world without nuclear weapons.

BIOGRAPHY

The first black leader of America, Barack Obama was born on 4th 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA as the son of American mother Ann Durham and Kenyan father Barack Obama, Sr. He had to face the world of loneliness at the age of 2. His parents divorced at that time. Then his mother married to an Indonesian oil manager Lolo and they moved to Jakarta. He had also a half sister named Maya Soetoro-Ng. After some years, he moved to Hawaii and was looked after by his grandparents. He completed his school education in Hawaii. Later he joined in Occidental college for two years, and then he acquired BA graduation from Columbia university in New York. After that he practiced law at Harvard university. At that time, he was elected in the first African-American editor of the Harvard law review. He began to work after this under several institutions like Business International Corporation, New York Public Interest Research Group etc. He also worked as the member of the board of directors of Public Allies, Woods Fund of Chicago, Joyce Foundation, Chicago Annenberg Challenge etc. In 1996, Obama was elected to the Illinois State Senate from the south side neighborhood of Hyde park, in Chicago. As senator, he is the most liberal senator and made many achievements in this position. In 2004 general elections, Obama was elected to the U.S.senate as a Democrat, representing Illinois. He was the fifth African-American Senator in U.S.history. In 2008 Democratic presidential election, Barack Obama defeated John McCain with 365 electoral votes to McCain’s 173 and became the first African American President of the United States. As a president, he has become a symbol of hope, change, and unity. He introduced many steps to recover from worldwide recession. He signed a $787 billion economic stimulus package ‘American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009′, introduced ‘Public-Private Investment Program’ etc to recover from recession. He also took steps in war in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is married to Michelle Robinson, and they had 2 kids named Malia Ann and Natasha. Obama is a protestant Christian and he is a firm believer in his religion. Obama has a good talent in writing, and he wrote many books like “Dream from my father” and the “Audacity of Hope”. He received Grammy awards for abridged audio book versions of both these books. Time magazine elected him as the “Person of the year for his historic candidacy and election” in 2008 December.