After the terrorist attacks in Oslo and Utøya that killed 77 people in 2011 the then Prime Minister promised to confront the extreme right wing terror with more democracy, love and openness. This promise did not materialise and the red-green coalition failed to take a political lead to stake out the new open, inclusive immigration and integration policy they had promised. The public debate was soon back to ‘normal’, blaming the few ills in Norwegian society on the failure of multiculturalism, ‘sneak islamisation’, ‘non deserving’ welfare recipients and foreign criminals. In the national elections of September 2013 there was a clear swing further to the right and for the first time in history the far right Progress Party was invited to form a government coalition with the main stream conservative party; Høyre. The new government is more neo-liberal than previous governments and advocates changes to labour law, cut backs to welfare and change in welfare rights with little resistance from the left.
This paper will explore how the far right Progress Party has influenced the mainstream parties and draws parallels to other European countries.
