This contributes to citizen power being transferred to powerful pseudo-representative systems – a political industry that controls a large public administration and protects itself through legislation. The political industry finances a large number of state-funded enterprises and organizations (NGOs), often led by politicians, and allows editor-controlled media to enjoy the convenience of becoming unfree through multi-million subsidies.
In this way, governance, administration, opinion formation, and the definition of facts in encyclopedias have also moved outside citizens’ control and oversight. The Norwegian edition of Wikipedia has what it itself calls Wikipedians, many of whom in practice act as anonymous editors. These Wikipedians exercise strong personal discretion and apply far stricter censorship than the English-language edition.
SNL.no faces similar challenges. A concrete request from me to describe participation as citizen participation was rejected by the editor: “I do not think we will prioritize a separate article on this topic in SNL; it would probably be more appropriate to address it in connection with more general coverage of planning matters.” Fortunately, the editorial team later reconsidered, but for a long time the Great Norwegian Encyclopedia described participation merely as a contribution to criminal activity.
Today, it is often the power elite within political organizations that in practice selects its preferred candidates for the top positions on electoral lists, followed by pseudo-democratic processes within the organizations themselves. The choices of the power elite are then sealed by citizens in “free elections” – in Norway without the possibility of influencing the personal composition of the national assembly. Oagal has generously estimated that around 2,500 people determine the composition of the Storting, while the reality is likely a few hundred powerful party leaders and leaders of the LO.
This represents a new form of politician-driven political extremism, and in Norway a previously unknown form of governance has emerged: the fund state.
Oagal draws attention to this in solidarity with all those harmed by today’s failing democracies – and by the threat these systems pose to trust in those in power, to democratic principles, and to the hope of genuine democracy for citizens living under totalitarian regimes. How are people to find hope and inspiration when the most highly regarded democracies openly set aside essential democratic elements? The path forward must include a clear account of realities.
A trustee should be aware that what he does, for good or ill, strengthens or weakens the movement he represents. This is something the trustee should bear in mind both in his private and public conduct.
Einar Gerhardsen, in the book The Trustee.
Democracy has never been about placing everything in the hands of representatives, the administration, and the media they fund, including their own NRK. In a well-functioning democratic system, citizens decide both directly – through deliberation, citizens’ initiatives, and referendums – and through representatives who stand firm when citizens demand popular policies that are harmful in the long term.
As in so many other systems of governance, power today has been removed from citizens and communities with the greatest of ease. What remains are parties and the administration holding all decision-making authority, even though democracy is far more than party politics and the ostensibly non-political administrative power exercised by the bureaucracy every day.
Christian Sømme er Oagals redaktør og demokratiaktivist. Overalt i Norge og internasjonalt møter han mennesker som ikke kan assosiere seg med og føler maktesløshet overfor beslutningene til politikere, offentlig administrasjon og domstoler. Han har etablert Oagal som en uavhengig mediekanal for å dekke disse problemstillingene, oppsummert som «reelt demokrati». Sømme har vært tillitsmann, by- og stedsutviklingsaktivist i en mannsalder, og demokratiaktivist som Medvirkningsombudet (selvutnevnt) fra 2018 og med Oagal fra 2024. (Foto: Thomas Eckhoff)
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