Wealth & Money Quote by Jens Stoltenberg

Stoltenberg’s line is less a description than a compact sales pitch for the Nordic center-left: you can have big government without suffocating growth, and capitalism without shredding social trust. The rhetorical trick is the word “combination.” It rejects the zero-sum framing that dominates Anglo-American politics (welfare vs. markets, equality vs. dynamism) and replaces it with an engineered harmony. “Successful” does heavy lifting too; it’s a preemptive rebuttal to the familiar critique that generous welfare states are unsustainable or naïve.

The triad is carefully calibrated. “Strong welfare state” signals redistribution and security, but “open and competitive market economy” reassures business interests and international observers that Norway isn’t a cuddly outlier. “Well-functioning democracy” isn’t just a civics gold star; it’s the hidden mechanism that makes the other two believable. If citizens trust institutions and feel represented, they tolerate high taxes, comply with rules, and invest in the common project. The subtext: legitimacy is an economic asset.

Context matters: Norway’s model sits atop oil wealth, high union density, and a corporatist bargaining tradition that keeps inequality relatively contained while preserving competitiveness. Stoltenberg, a Labour Party figure who later led NATO, is also speaking outward. This is Norway as brand: stable, pragmatic, modern, a proof-of-concept for “Third Way” governance. It’s an argument that social democracy isn’t a relic; it’s a system design that, under the right conditions, can outcompete both austerity politics and state-heavy alternatives.