Editor 's note : Kiron K. Skinner is an associate professor of international relations at Carnegie Mellon University , directs the university 's International Relations and Politics Program , and is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University . She is the co-author , along with Serhiy Kudelia , Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Condoleezza Rice , of `` The Strategy of Campaigning : Lessons from Ronald Reagan and Boris Yeltsin . '' Kiron Skinner says the Nobel Committee recognizes the predominant power of the United States . ( CNN ) -- As an American of African descent , I swelled with pride when I heard that the Norwegian Nobel Committee selected President Obama to receive the Nobel Peace Prize . The award further validates what the 2008 presidential election demonstrated : The United States is the most mature and fully functioning multi-ethnic democracy in the world . Despite its emphasis on multilateralism , the Norwegian Nobel Committee 's statement also recognizes the predominant power of the United States . The accepted wisdom among diplomats is that the international system is multipolar because of the increasingly multilateral governance structure of the world 's numerous international institutions . In reality , however , the United States is by far the single greatest economic , military and political power on earth . Furthermore , many international institutions are dependent upon the United States for their survival . Announcing the award , the Norwegian Nobel Committee said `` multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position , with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play . '' The Committee thus joins a chorus of international forums that contend that multilateralism is the hallmark of the international system . Today there are more formal and informal international institutions than ever before , and they share a common theme . Leaders attending the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania , on September 24-25 declared that the G-20 , a collection of advanced economies and fast-growing developing economies , would replace the G-7/G-8 , the long-standing group of advanced economies , as the `` premier forum for our international economic cooperation . '' This decision is seen in no small measure as bowing to pressure from states such as Brazil , China and India that have powerhouse economies but have been left out of key international economic meetings such as the G-8 , which includes the United Kingdom , the United States , France , Germany , Japan , Italy , Canada and Russia . The G-20 leaders also agreed to increase the voting power of developing countries in the World Bank by at least 3 percent and to shift the quota share in the International Monetary Fund from developed countries to countries in economic transition by at least 5 percent . The Nobel Committee 's sentiment was expressed at the G-8 summit in L'Aquila , Italy , in July when the G-8 countries joined with the G-5 ( Brazil , China , India , Mexico , and South Africa ) , Egypt and the European Union to declare : `` Our purpose is to foster a genuine partnership , in the context of a strengthened multilateralism . '' That is similar to what BRIC -- Brazil , Russia , India , and China -- stated at its first summit on June 16 in Yekaterinburg , Russia : `` We underline our support for a more democratic and just multipolar world order based on the rule of international law , equality , mutual respect , cooperation , coordinated action and collective decision-making of all states . ... We express our strong commitment to multilateral diplomacy with the United Nations playing the central role in dealing with global challenges and threats . '' The very next day , the members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization ( China , Kazakhstan , Kyrgyzstan , Russia , Tajikistan , and Uzbekistan ) put the matter more starkly as they concluded their summit : `` The tendency towards true multipolarity is irreversible . '' An increasing number of regional and international institutions with evolving memberships and leadership are multilateral . The world , however , is not multipolar . Consider some important facts : the United States has the largest gross domestic product defined in terms of purchasing power parity of any single state in the world ; it is surpassed in GDP only by the European Union , a collection of states ; and its GDP is twice that of China , its nearest competitor . The United States accounts for approximately half of the world 's defense spending and it provides extended military deterrent cover for many of its allies , especially European . Whether it is the subject of positive or negative international public opinion , the United States is a major source of cultural , political and social power in the world . In its recently released Global Competiveness Report , the World Economic Forum placed the United States just behind top-ranked Switzerland , hardly a nation best positioned to lead the global economy . It is reasonable to expect that the United States will soon regain the number-one position it held in earlier World Economic Forum competitiveness reports . International political , economic and military realities are not changed merely by declaring that they are something different from what they are . I believe the Nobel Committee knows this better than those writing communiqués for the various international institutions . The Committee asserts that President Obama has `` created a new climate in international politics . '' In other words , it recognizes the United States ' predominant global power -- power that does not appear to be diminishing and that is capable of shaping many of the multilateral institutions that depend on it . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Kiron K. Skinner .
Molly Skinner : It 's become fashionable to speak of a ` ` multipolar '' world . She says the economy and defense forces still dominate the world . Skinner : Women 's Nobel Prize recognized the primacy of the U.S .