2013-09-09

Norway Swings Right

This is a confirmation of socionomics against the common wisdom. After Anders Breivik massacred the children of left-wing politicians in an attempt to stop mass immigration from Muslim countries, the common wisdom looked for the right-wing to be punished. It helped, in this line of thinking, that Breivik was a member when he was young. Also, the party did slip a bit in 2011 following the massacre, but since then it has rebounded. Despite securing higher vote totals in prior elections, the center-right consistently refused to parter with anti-immgiration Progress, but that's all water under the bridge now.

Norway’s centre-right claims victory
It wants to stick to a rule that only 4 per cent of the oil fund’s value is allowed to be spent each year by the government. But the Progress party, which came third with 16.3 per cent, wants to spend more, particularly on infrastructure. The two centrist parties have also said they would refuse to be in government with Progress, known for its fierce anti-immigration views and for having Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people in 2011, as a former member.

Two years after Breivik's massacre Norway's anti-immigration party verges on election success
Dozens of survivors of Breivik's massacre on Utøya island on July 22, 2011, mostly members of the Labor Party youth wing, are seeking office in the national election.

But the wave of sympathy for the Labor Party in the wake of the shooting spree seems to have evaporated and the Norwegian public seems ready for a new government after eight years.

...This swing to the right is illustrated by the policies of the Progress Party, rejected by the political consensus a decade ago, being widely accepted now, according to Professor Knut Heidar, of Oslo University’s Department of Political Science.

“The policies which [Progress] were proposing 10 years ago are now being accepted by all the parties, including Labor, in terms of integration, that immigrants should learn Norwegian and so on," said Heidar.
Events don't generate social mood. Social mood generates events. Breivik or no Breivik, Norway is moving to the right along with the rest of Europe, Asia and the Americas.

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