The Nobel Prize you get for best intentions - Just got more political

[Sigurd]

So unless I'm missing something very subtle in the difference between Norway and Sweden in cultural trends, I think it is more the arena of the prize and not Norway's culture that is the problem. The peace prize is often a political one, and as such it suffers from a lack of talent to award it too. The politicians on the whole would not like to see a prize go to a politician of yesteryear and would not like to admit someone on the other side of the political divide did something worthwhile.

I take it that you have read the information found on the public nobelprize site. It was Alfred Nobel's wish that a 5 member committee appointed by the Norwegian Storting (equivalent to the congress in US) hand out the peace prize. Why? We don't really know.
Why choose the current Storting to appoint if not to have a political influence?

Besides... there are rules to nominate candidates - and the nominations come from respected universities, courts of Haag, international governments and international political institutions. The candidates are discussed and a short list is made, then a group of respected university professors with expertise in peace prize disciplines will investigate each short list candidate and write recommendations.
Based on these recommendations a shorter list is discussed by the committee - one is chosen maybe after revisiting and updating of the recommendations by the professors.

The committee is a reflection of the current power-setup of Stortinget and it has always been thus. Stortinget is re-elected every 4 years, but the committee sits 6 years.
I agree that the committee members if re-elected during several periods could potentially get a little high-minded (self-important bastards) and should therefore sit shorter periods with a higher turnover. I think however the process is sound.