(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
"It smells," wrote former Prime Minister Gudmund Hernes in an open letter to Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg in Dagbladet on Saturday 2. August. Here he expressed his concern over the red-green government's lack of ability to mobilize counterbalance to the opposition, and to take control of the course of the country it is set to govern. The brain is not the only one concerned. Several Veterans of the Apes have more or less directly criticized the Stoltenberg Government this summer, from Yngve Hågensen and Thorbjørn Berntsen to Reiulf Steen.
In the polls, it looks ugly. The Progress Party has long been on the verge of becoming the country's largest party, and the latest poll conducted by Norstat would have given the red-green parties 67 seats in parliament – 29 fewer than today. The 2009 Storting election is getting closer and closer, but the enthusiasm for the red-green project seems difficult to trace. Can the development be reversed? Ny Tid has spoken to a selection of Norwegian social analysts and researchers who give their enthusiasm tips to the red-green politicians.
A social democratic project
The Norwegian Social Democracy with the Labor Party at the forefront built up a solid welfare state shortly after World War II. Rich natural resources made Norway a pioneer in major energy projects, with oil and gas extraction in the North Sea and hydropower development on the mainland. Future optimism flourished. Then came Generation X and "we who did not build the land," as Erlend Loe described it in his novel "L". The turnout declined gradually. The enthusiasm disappeared.
Social scientist and researcher at the School of Architecture and Design in Oslo, Erling Dokk Holm, calls for a new large social democratic project adapted to modern and mobile people – a new "moon landing" that can both engage and create excitement. It can best happen in the environmental area, he believes.
– The government should fertilize the public with a new and large infrastructure network.
Dokk Holm aims at the development of a climate-friendly and high-tech network of high-speed trains in southern Norway, similar to that which connects cities and towns in countries such as France, Germany and Japan – and which is now also under development in Morocco. In Norway, the idea has not come much further than to the thought stage – with some studies and assessments from, among others, German consulting companies.
– It is about tying the regions together in an effective way. This is also a typical social democratic project. Historically, the Social Democrats have just been concerned with creating a rational state with efficient use of energy, argues the researcher at the Department of Urbanism and Landscape.
Dokk Holm also mentions renewable energy as an important track to follow in the search for a new enthusiasm project for the future.
– I think one should make a robust funding of basic research, and it can be done by detaching it from the annual state budget and rather put all basic research into a fund managed by a competent board that will make sure that it gives a nice annual increase. In addition, more funds must be channeled for research and development of energy technology, here the sharing of the oil fund can be earmarked. This is how you can combine business, ethical and environmental actions. And then I think not only of offshore wind power, but of all relevant renewable energy. Here, the government would also be able to get many of the technocrats in the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party on board, says Dokk Holm.
Read more in this week's issue of Ny Tid
