Turn left | Indian express
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Since at least 2016 – a year which saw the unexpected election of Donald Trump as President of the United States and Britain voting to leave the European Union in a referendum – there have been worrying signs of a far-right, often xenophobic political wave across Europe and the West. . Even in the Scandinavian countries, questions around immigration and the transition to a climate-friendly economy have led, at least in part, to the resurgence of relatively nativist and island political forces. With the election of a center-left coalition in Norway, it’s clear that forebodings of a far-right cloud over Europe were overblown – the five Scandinavian countries now have center-left governments. However, it would be just as premature to imagine that a liberal left-wing order is now deeply rooted in Europe.
Norwegian Labor Party leader Jonas Gahr Stoere is expected to lead a coalition government. The questions posed in the election echoed some of the issues that Northern Europe – indeed, the Global North as a whole – has been grappling with. How will the transition to fossil fuels, the jobs and the wealth it creates be managed? What should be the balance between fair taxation and rising inequalities? In countries with an aging and declining population, how to deal with the political and social consequences of immigration? In this election, like others that came before it in the region, the mandate was for reasonable welfarists and environmentalists to attempt to guide the country through these transitions.
Yet it is important to remember that an election brings about a change of government; it does not eviscerate the social threads that form the backdrop of politics. In France, for example, there have been political obituaries as well as overestimates of far-right influence – both were wrong, Marine Le Pen continues to be politically significant without being dominant. In the Nordic countries, a similar process is probably underway. For the world, there will be lessons on how these developed states face the challenges of the 21st century.
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