Guro Ødegård

After Utøya: How a High-Trust Society Reacts to Terror—Trust and Civic Engagement in the Aftermath of July 22

The article examines short-term effects of terror on trust and civic engagement in Norway. Prior to the July 22, 2011 attacks, Norway ranked among the nations with the highest levels of trust and civic engagement in the world. How does a nation of trusters react to terror? Based on two web surveys conducted in March/April 2011 and August 2011 short-term effects on trust, fear, and political interest and participation are analyzed. Two competing hypotheses are explored: first, the “end-of-innocence hypothesis,” which assumes that the attacks have disrupted trust and instilled a new culture of fear, and second, the “remobilization hypothesis,” which assumes that the attacks have led to a reinforcement of trust and of civic values. Our results show increased interpersonal and institutional trust as well as a modest increase in civic engagement, especially among youth. Moreover, there is little increase in experienced fear within the population. Our study therefore supports the remobilization-of-trust hypothesis. Contrary to the intended aims of the attacker, the structures of trust and civic engagement seem to have been reinforced in Norwegian society. This study in part corroborates findings concerning short-term effects after September 11, 2001.

Political socialization and influence at the mercy of politicians: A study of a local participation project amongst young people in Norway

This article explores the following research questions: do local participation projects, such as youth councils, have a socializing effect on young peoples political awareness; and do the young people involved attain power and influence in the local political field? The earliest and widely acknowledged political participation project among young people in Norway — the Porsgrunn Model — is used as a case study. This study includes two surveys supplemented by qualitative material. Based on a theoretical framework related to political socialization, democracy and political influence, the author discusses the status of youth councils in general and the Porsgrunn Model in particular. The findings imply that the local participation projects do not have an effect on young peoples political awareness in general. However, young people who are directly involved in the participation process have a higher degree of political awareness than those who are outside this process. It is argued that this may be a cumulative effect where young people who are already politically active are also attracted to these structures. Furthermore, the author claims that these youth councils occupy an unclear position in the democratic process, which leaves the young peoples possibilities to attain political influence at the mercy of politicians. Their ‘potential power’ seems to be valuable only if they operate in an ‘elite–directed way’, when the formal political rules, norms and communicative competence are used.

Changing Patterns of Volunteering and Participation

In this chapter, we investigate whether the Norwegian model of organizational participation and volunteering is changing due to exogenous processes of individualization, digitalization, and migration. Analyzing a varied set of data, including population surveys and qualitative case studies, some interesting and paradoxical results were discovered. Regarding the process of individualization, we identify the development of a more reflexive and individualized form of volunteering indicated by a loosening of membership bonds between individuals and voluntary organizations, a multiplication of arenas for volunteering, more short-term volunteering, and an increased self-oriented motivation for volunteering. However, we also observe stability in (high) levels, volumes and areas of volunteering (sport, leisure, and culture), and a continuing importance of local contexts for mobilizing volunteers. We see this stability as an indication of a rather successful, multifaceted reconfiguration of Norwegian civil society, in the sense that it adapts to new, more individualized motives and practices among volunteers. With regard to digitalization, we find digital media mainly to support participation and volunteering, both within and outside of traditional organizations by underpinning reflexive individualized volunteering and supporting traditional organizations informational services. With regard to immigration, analyses show lower levels of voluntary participation (tied to lower levels of education and income) among immigrants and their descendants and the formation of and larger participation in religious, immigrant- and culture-specific organizations and networks. Although these particular findings may indicate challenges for the traditional Norwegian model of volunteering in integrating the immigrant population, the overall trends found in this chapter are indicative of adaptation on the part of the Norwegian model to larger social processes of change.

Young councillors—influential politicians or youth alibi?

Based on a survey of young councillors in 20 Norwegian municipalities, the paper studies the relation between the councillors’ sense of political efficacy, their role perception and their motivation to continue with politics. The results indicate that those feeling they are expected to represent youth or who are nominated because of their age feel less influential than others. Influence in own party group and being acknowledged by established politicians seem to be important for the motivation to continue with politics. Video abstract Read the transcript Watch the video on Vimeo

When Policy Meets Practice: A Study of Ethnic Community-Based Organizations for Children and Youth

State-supported ethnic community-based organizations (CBOs) for children and youth develop within the framework of the Norwegian tradition of voluntary organization. This chapter shows that both the government and the ethnic CBOs perceive the organizations as an arena for cultural and social activities among young people who are growing up in migrancy , whether they are immigrant youth or Norwegian-born children of immigrants . The state and the CBOs differ, however, in their perceptions about the purpose of establishing special ethnic community-based organizations for children and youth. Some members of these organizations were born in Norway, but the government places the organizations within a migrancy framework in its financial funding scheme. In line with the Nordic tradition of voluntary organization, the government perceives the cultural and social activities within ethnic CBOs as a stepping-stone to individual democratic participation in the larger society. This policy is ambiguous. In contrast, the ethnic CBOs work to maintain their members’ cultural heritage, and may at times contest the Norwegian understanding of voluntary organizations as a stepping-stone to individual participation in the larger society. The chapter concludes that the CBOs not only maintain the state’s migrancy framework, but also refuse the government’s idea of integration as a process taking place within nation-state boundaries.