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Alfred Nobel specifically requested that the prize be awarded "to the person or society that shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses." You can definitely view Dr. King's work as furthering brotherhood among nations, since so many wars are motivated by ethnic conflict and Civil Rights are critically important to defusing such conflict; but the prize is not merely intended for "civilizational progress" of any arbitrary kind.