Social democratic change in our time.

In democracies, change takes place through elections. Political parties define policies, ideologies and visions, and more concrete strategies for how to implement change. In some countries, such as my home country Norway, which just had general elections last Monday, there were no less than nine political parties in last term's parliament, which means that the parties must form groups and coalitions-one group that is in power, and one that is in opposition. The system is different from the British and American systems, where there are usually just two main parties in their parliaments. Also, in those countries, and in most former British colonies, the systems are based on one constituency, one representative. In the proportionate election systems, such as in all Scandinavian countries, there are several representatives elected from each constituency, based on the number of votes cast for each candidate. That system is by many seen as more democratic because it is not only the winner that takes all. In the UK, for example, one can find constituencies that have always either been Labour or Conservative.

In Norway, the Conservative Party PM, Erna Solberg, in a coalition government with the Liberal Party and the Christian People's Party, lost this year's election after having ruled for eight years-two four-year parliamentary terms. Now Jonas Gahr Store from the Labour Party and his two preferred coalition partners, the Centre Party and the Socialist Left Party, are in majority. Furthermore, the far-left Red Party, Red, did well and the little Green Party got three experienced representatives, and they are also supporting Labour. It should be noted that it is very rare that any political group is in power for more than two terms; that only happened in the first decades after WWII when Labour had a majority for longer and built the welfare state. Thus, it was expected that the Conservatives would lose this year's election.

Well into this year's election campaign in Norway, I came to realise the importance and urgency of addressing climate change and environmental issues, and I already knew that equality issues are essential, in Norway and in all other countries. The fact that Norway is an oil and gas producer and exporter, makes the oil issues particularly important, for Norway's own sake, and because the country generally wants to be a model country for others to learn from. Since it is one of the world's richest countries, thanks to its...