Norway’s newly elected prime minster is no stranger to the management of political power. The election of 61-year-old Støre can be seen as part of a larger swing back to the moderate Left in northern Europe in general, and Scandinavia in particular as, from Stockholm to Berlin, neoliberalism’s discontents nudge politics away from overtly market-friendly forms of capitalism. In its extent, it’s an impressive shift that touches several countries but it doesn’t cut deep enough. At a time when climate politics is demanding radical moves away from carbon capitalism, this new wave of business-friendly social democrats feels like pretty small beer.
Støre, and Norway, are perhaps the most interesting case of the lot. There can be little doubt that Støre’s brand of social democracy sits close to the business-friendly Right. Originally a Conservative, he became a protégé of the renowned former Labour Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtlund, serving her first by running the Prime Minister’s Office, and then followed her to the World Health Organization in 1995 where he became her chief of staff. He joined the Labour cabinet during prime minister Jens Stoltenberg’s Blairite government of 2005 and helped preside over the largest privatization of industry in Norwegian history. A millionaire himself, he is associated with a small clique of Oslo business known as the West End Executives.
