4. Robust Democracy

Here’s a place where there are many political parties, and they need to build coalitions to have enough power to govern. This means debating issues in a serious way and can give a small party power if they are needed to swing the vote. In a definitive kind of way, a robust democracy has many parties, one of which representing the viewpoint of any particular citizen, giving rise to a feeling of inclusion in the system and therefore, trust in the system. The current breakdown of support is listed in a link to the right titled “8 – Support Level for Political Parties.”

The only thing that gives one pause is the phenomenon of the rise in popularity of the "Progress Party," which is openly xenophobic and economically on the extreme right. The corporate Norwegian press picks up and broadcasts much of leader Carl Hagen's ranting against foreigners and his extreme views, sort of acting as a cheerleader. The fueling and rise of anti foreigner sentiment has created two distinct realities for native and immigrant Norwegians, and threatens the level of quality in education and innovation in the Norwegian economy, as there is neither a government agency nor laws to protect immigrants against discrimination. Check out the link to the right under "8 – Discrimination," which highlights some typical experiences of foreign born Norwegians and would-be immigrants. As the immigrant population grows and to the extent it is excluded from participating in Norwegian society, it is likely that the quality of life so treasured will deteriorate. Trust in the system comes from inclusion in the system. So in a way, Hagen is right in identifying immigration as an issue, but the problem is in the way Norwegian society as a whole treats newcomers and not in the culture from which the immigrants come, and his frequently broadcasted comments hurt the process. The media is not a democratic institution, so it is incorrect believe that it functions like one, but still, why do they always support the extreme right? Eventually maybe there will be an immigrant party, or maybe someone from one of the existing parties will figure out that they can be used as a voting bloc and will take up their cause.

But in the end, this is a robust democracy, and the Norwegian government policies accurately reflect what the majority of Norwegians want, for better or worse, unlike many nations where the government policy is shaped by monied interests against the will of the public, and for this reason the Norwegian democracy is included in my top 10.