David Begg: A new politics is now a possibility

Borgen is a word which frequently trips from the mouths of commentators in the aftermath of the general election. This fictional television series based on the machinations of government formation in a multi-party environment in Denmark is suggested as providing guidance as to how the reality of forming a government here might be handled.

But we have to remember that Borgen is fictional and real Danish politics has to be viewed in the totality of its historical and cultural context. That said, Denmark has always been of interest to Ireland because it is a similar sized small open economy with a strong agricultural tradition, and it too exists in the shadows of a large and powerful neighbour, ie Germany.

The producers of Borgen were not allowed to film within the parliament buildings after which it is called. They had to construct a special set for the purpose. What this misses out is that in the real Borgen Palace is a magnificent stained-glass window beside the debating chamber. This depicts a mother and daughter embracing, meant to represent the reunification of the provinces of Schleswig/Holstein with Denmark. These were lost to Germany in 1864 when Bismarck defeated Denmark.

The defeat of 1864 had a huge impact on the psyche of the Danes, causing them to reflect deeply on the meaning of nationhood. It created a realisation that a small open economy cannot dominate anyone and must look internally to developed institutions which enhance co-operation rather than conflict. This thinking was reinforced with the emergence of fascism in the 1930s and it is a tribute to the Danes that they managed to save almost their entire Jewish population from the Nazis.

Consensus

In the academic literature Denmark is characterised as having ‘a negotiated economy’, meaning that all interests in society are represented in institutions which try to achieve consensus on issues of public importance.

This is generally the case with the Nordic countries. The recent history of this region shows that a post-war development model has allowed the Nordic countries to become the most competitive, economically efficient and socially cohesive in the world, with low levels of societal inequality.

The seminal achievement which made this possible was an economic plan developed by the Swedish economists, Gosta Rehn and Rudolf Meidner, in the 1950s. Their ideas were adopted subsequently, to some degree at least, by most of the countries in the region. In recent years social democratic hegemony has waned somewhat and in some cases centre-right parties have come to power. But the model remains largely intact. This has given rise to a term known as the 'Svallfors Paradox', which means that you can choose whatever composition of government you want so long as it governs within a social democratic polity.

Public squalor

The general election of last week has not settled anything. Ireland faces existential challenges on many fronts – volatility on international markets, our future relationship with Europe and Britain, serious social deficits in housing, health and education, inequality in market incomes and childcare – which still have to be faced. Walking across our capital city any day cannot but cause one to wonder if we are in danger of succumbing to conditions of private affluence and public squalor, so lamented as being the case in America by John Galbraith many years ago.

If we do really want to consider the possibility of a new politics we could do worse than look beyond the fictional television series and seriously explore what the real Borgen offers us by way of a model.

It is a positive thing that the electorate, perhaps for the first time, rejected auction politics and seem to demand from politicians a credible narrative of Ireland's future. In the words of the great economist, John Maynard Keynes: "At the present moment people are unusually expectant of a more fundamental diagnosis; more particularly ready to receive it; eager to try it out, should it be even plausible."

David Begg is a former chief executive of Concern Worldwide and was general secretary of Ictu from 2001-2015. Ireland, Small Open Economies, and European Integration: Lost in Transition is published by Palgrave Macmillan