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Norway's Parliament. Kyrre Lien

Politicians in Norway are not as well paid as their American counterparts and most live a more modest, low-profile existence. The basic pay for U.S. senators and representatives is $174,000 compared to $108,000 in Norway.

Many Norwegians just can't shake the feeling that America elected "a reality star as president," according to Silje Ljdal, a 25-year-old barista. "It's just a reality show, the whole thing," she adds in disbelief.

Opinion seems to be just as scathing outside the city of Oslo.

Annette Dahl, a 26-year-old hunter from Norway's rural Telemark region, says U.S. politics "seems like a circus to me. [Trump] seems like kind of clown, you know? The way he talks and the things he says, it's hard to take him seriously."

Many are just as worried about Trump's substance as they are his style.

Despite almost 4,000 miles between them, Norway has always enjoyed a partnership with the White House and was one of the first nations to join NATO in 1949.

Its inhabitants can be forgiven for paying particular attention to Trump's foreign policy pronouncements; they have skin in the geopolitical game in the shape of a 120-mile border with Russia.

Just last month,

But under Trump, many Norwegians say his comments undermining NATO as "obsolete" have made them feel nervous. Norway is also one of the countries Trump has criticized for not paying the recommended 2 percent share toward the alliance's upkeep.

"It's kind of scary because we share a border with Russia, and we've got Putin turning quite aggressive," says Schiefloe, the carpenter.

"The world is going to change, I hope for the better but I fear it's going to be quite bad," adds Tor Bomann-Larsen, a 65-year-old writer from Drammen, a city 25 miles from Oslo. "We've never seen anything like Trump before, it's something quite new and the world is shaking."

Norwegians also worry about man-made climate change, something Trump has repeatedly labeled a hoax and once even suggested was a conspiracy invented by the Chinese.

His claims go against scientific consensus, but they also threaten Norway's delicate ecosystem, where the northern ice is crucial to the symbolic survival of polar bears and other Arctic creatures.

"If I met Donald Trump I would invite him to Svalbard, in the high north, and I would show him what the climate change is doing to our environment," Norwegian Local Government Minister Jan Tore Sanner told NBC News during an interview in the country's Parliament building.

Like others in his government, Sanner says he is optimistic about working with America's new leader. Asked about Trump's environmental policies, however, and his tone changes slightly.

"The ice is melting," he says. "The climate is changing the way we can the can live in the world."

While the statistics and anecdotes may make liberal hearts flutter, Norway is far from a leftist utopia.

It's current government is led by the Conservative Party and includes lawmakers from the right-wing populist Progress Party, which wants to slash taxes and immigration amid

And of course not everyone here agrees that Norwegian politics is all that great in the first place.

"I don't feel we have the best democracy in the world," says Steinar Vetterstad, a 67-year-old former construction worker from the town of Hokksund. "There are a lot of things that aren't right."

Steinar Vetterstad Kyrre Lien

He has lived off disability benefits ever since he was injured at work.

Symptomatic of the global populism that helped Trump into the White House and Britain vote for Brexit last year, Vetterstad used to support the left-wing Labour Party but in 2013 switched his vote to Progress.

"It is the politicians in Oslo ... don't represent the people anymore ... [they're] just politicians in suits," he says.

That there is such healthy debate in Norway betrays the violence in its recent past. Less than six years ago its democracy came under direct attack.

On July 22, 2011, white supremacist Anders Behring Breivik detonated a car bomb among Oslo's government buildings. Wearing a police officer's uniform, he then drove to the island of Utya, around 20 miles away, and began shooting children staying at a camp run by the left-wing Labour Party. In all, he killed 77 people.

Sanner, the member of Norway's Cabinet, took NBC News to the site of the car bomb.

"It was an attack on Norwegian democracy and ... he killed a lot of young people, young people who were engaged in politics," he says, looking out over where the blast occurred. "They were 16 years old, 18 years old. They just started to be involved in politics and they lost their lives."

The Parliament building in Oslo. Kyrre Lien

"We are still shocked by what has happened, but we will never give up our values," the then-prime minister, Jens Stoltenberg, said in a speech at the time. "Our response is more democracy, more openness, and more humanity."

Likewise, Sanner sees that dark chapter as a stark warning of what happens when democratic principles are disregarded.

"We didn't think it could happen here but it happened here," he says. "So that shows we have to have an open society, a democratic society, and we cannot take it for granted."

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Norway Is the 'World's Best Democracy' We Asked Its People Why - NBCNews.com

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Norwegians are more more likely to vote in their elections than Americans and their rival political parties focus on how they can collaborate, not attack one another, part of why the nation continues to be named the best democracy in the world by the Economist Intelligence Unit, NBC News reported.

That same report from the London-based consultancy this year downgraded the United States from a "full democracy" to a "flawed democracy," linked to lobbying and American voters losing trust in political institutions.

Neither is a significant issue in Norway.

"There's something about our culture that says it's very important to vote," 18-year-old Aurora Aven explained to NBC News at an ice rink in Oslo. "Norway has such a good system, so no one feels left out and no one feels misunderstood. Everybody knows their voice will be heard."

Published 2 hours ago | Updated 42 minutes ago

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Civics Lessons From the 'World's Best Democracy' - NBC Chicago

The Jerusalem Hills are one of the most beautiful sights in the world. The peaceful, rolling green hills, thick with trees and vineyards, are world renowned and deeply evocative.

On a clear day you can see for miles at Jerusalems Yad Kennedy Memorial in the Aminadav Forest. So Ive been led to believe. Last Wednesday was not one of those days. In true British style, heavy mist had fallen upon Jerusalem and rain fell relentlessly sideways.

The inclement weather had arrived just in time for me to plant one of the trees awarded to me by Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI) to celebrate my recent knighthood. This moving gift was a particular honor for me and Id been looking forward to this moment.

I first came to Israel in 1980 and fell in love with the place and its people.

Israel is a bastion of democracy in a region plagued by chaos and autocracy.

It celebrates and protects the same values that we in Britain cherish; the rule of law, free speech, freedom of movement and freedom of assembly.

The Jewish state has achieved a seemingly impossible amount in its young life. If more countries had set out to build modern democratic states and invested in their people and futures, the world would be a more prosperous and peaceful place.

Israel has changed so much since that first visit. With its high-rises and booming high-tech scene, Tel Aviv is a city transformed. The country is moving ever closer to achieving 100% recycled drinking water through desalination; a game changer for a country the very survival of which was only recently still at risk through its lack of water resources. One need only drive into Jerusalem to see the major infrastructure investment in the countrys road and rail network.

In sheer defiance of its tough neighborhood and limited natural resources, Israel has fast become one of the worlds most advanced countries.

Trees are strong symbols for life and the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund and JNF UK have done important work in making Israel bloom by planting hundreds of thousands of trees. It is a message of rebirth and new life. The sight of trees peacefully swaying in the wind as one leaves behind the horrors displayed at Yad Vashem is a testament to the peaceful future Jews have long sought in their homeland.

Its a privilege to literally put down roots in this country. It was particularly fitting to plant the tree so close to Tu Bishvat New Year of the Trees.

As the heavens continued to pour I picked up the big green watering can and heartily poured water over the young sapling. A truly Monty Python-esque way to conclude the moving ceremony.

The most important aspect of CFIs work is our program of parliamentary delegations to Israel. It is only by seeing Israel that you can begin to understand it.

The extensive itinerary took us from meetings with high-tech incubators in Tel Aviv, all the way to Sderot on the Gaza border (which has the unfortunate reputation as the bomb shelter capital of the world) and Ramallah in the West Bank.

No CFI fact-finding mission is the same and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus much anticipated visit to Washington, DC, provided an interesting backdrop to our visit. After all the hype and political gamesmanship, Netanyahus joint press conference with President Donald Trump provided no shortage of drama.

The prospect of a more public regional relationship between Israel and its Gulf neighbors is interesting.

The Palestinians, currently committed to a counterproductive unilateral agenda, are only really likely to return to the negotiating table with the support and encouragement from fellow Arabs. Shared concerns over Iran could offer a previously unforeseen way to securing a peace agreement.

President Trumps opening of the door to a one-state solution was a major error. Whether this was the latest careless remark from The Donald or evidence of a major shift in US policy away from a two-state solution, it will only embolden the wrong people.

Israels right wing and Palestinian rejectionists find themselves in agreement.

Let me be clear: any option other than a two-state solution risks threatening the Jewish, democratic nature of the State of Israel.

The importance of Israels need for defensible borders was brought home to us when we visited the Gaza border, and were reminded of the threats that Israel faces on a daily basis. An elderly resident of the Netiv Haasara moshav recalled how a Hamas tunnel came out of the ground just yards from a kindergarten, with the potential of carrying out mass Israeli casualties.

The trip highlighted that both Israelis and Palestinians do not currently believe that any progress on resolving the conflict is likely in the near future.

Young Palestinians we met with spoke of distrust of their political leadership, while Israelis were split on what a Trump administration would mean for Israel. The only thing the Israelis agreed on was their shared hope for a peaceful future, and that the country would be going into elections in the near future.

CFI and many of my parliamentary colleagues have been running a campaign over the past few years calling for the UK to allocate a greater share of funds we give to the Palestinian Authority for peaceful coexistence projects. We firmly believe that bringing Israelis and Palestinians together to break down misconceptions about the other is important to ensuring the long-term success of any peace deal.

One of these deserving charities is Save a Childs Heart, where we met a group of children from Gaza who had traveled with their mothers to receive life-saving heart surgery at the Wolfson Medical Center in Holon.

We also met a Palestinian trainee pediatric cardiologist; one of 120 physicians and nurses trained by Save a Childs Heart from the Palestinian territories and developing countries that then take their skills home. Projects like these transform lives and deserve our fullest possible support.

We also visited Beit Issie Shapiro, a charity providing cutting-edge services to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities. Its Sindian Center in the Arab Israeli town of Kalansuwa is the first early intervention center in the Arab sector in Israel.

It is radically changing how disabilities are viewed in the Arab sector.

As we were told by the parents of disabled children, their shared concerns for their children transcends politics and the conflict and regularly brings Arab and Jewish Israeli families together.

Interest in strengthening bilateral trade between the UK and Israel was also welcome. It is clear that there is much interest in Israel in the Jewish state and the UK negotiating a free trade agreement. With trade already at record levels, this offers hope of yet more shared prosperity in the future.

Its been a real pleasure playing a small part bringing our two great countries together. Thank you very much to CFI for this honor and the JNF/JNF UK for arranging such a memorable occasion. I look forward to visiting my own little piece of Israel for many years to come.

The author is parliamentary chairman of Conservative Friends of Israel and the prime ministers UK envoy on post-Holocaust issues.

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Planting trees in the bastion of democracy - Jerusalem Post Israel News

With his 5,800-word manifesto on Building Global Community, Facebook chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg seems to be easing ever more into his role as benevolent dictator of the media universe. As recently as just after the U.S. elections in November, he attempted to dodge responsibility for Facebooks role in shaping the outcome. Now, three months later, he is ready to take charge of the security, accuracy and diversity of how the world shares information. And he wants our help.

The latter third of the essay centers around a call for Facebook to explore examples of how community governance might work at scale. This comes in the context of the declining fortunes of democracy in governments the world over; we may be losing our countries to authoritarians, but at least we will have our Facebook. The proposal seems to amount to a cascading series of online focus groupsof which we may or may not know we are a partmanaged by artificial intelligence in order to develop fine-tuned acceptability standards for content across various world cultures. But democracy is not a focus group.

Democracy means ownership and accountability, along with shared governance. That is how you make sure the governance is real, that it matters and that participants will take it seriously. In a country with functioning democracy, citizens vote responsibly because they know they will own the consequences if they dont. They will be footing the bill. Same with the investors in a corporation or the members of a cooperative business, whether it is a neighborhood food co-op or a national credit union.

Offering free input to an unaccountable oligarchy is very different. It is more like feudalism. King Louis XVI offered his subjects focus groups when he initiated the Cahiers de Dolances in early 1789; it was only with the start of the revolution later that year that the process of securing some real democracy began. If Mr. Zuckerbergs vision for government is anything like Facebooks past experiments with referenda on its terms of service, users should demand better before the sham-democracy starts.

Ownership is also about economics. It is about who benefits. Right now, Facebook is in the process of absorbing huge swaths of the global advertising market, lots of our life-giving communities and now much of politics and mediafunnelling the profits mainly to the founders, early investors and other large shareholders. Mr. Zuckerberg has tried to dismiss this concern. One thing I have been wondering recently is if people misdiagnosed it that the hope for the future is all economic, he told Kara Swisher in an interview about the manifesto. But the things that are happening in our world now are all about the social world not being what people need.

This billionaires refusal to recognize the rise of authoritarianism as a symptom of economic inequality and insecurity is startling. He views unrestas authoritarians tend toas a problem of faulty management, not of unjust accumulations of power.

Mr. Zuckerberg is at least right about one thing: Online platforms like his may be the best hope for democracy in a time of reactionary politics. But not in the fashion he suggests. The growing movement for platform cooperativism envisions online platforms truly owned and governed by those who depend on them; experiments around the world are beginning to demonstrate that this kind of democratic internet is possible and competitive. Already Twitter is facing pressure from shareholders to consider this option for the companys future.

Nobody is better-positioned to jumpstart such democracy than Mark Zuckerberg. Late in 2015, he and his wife announced plans to donate 99 percent of their Facebook stock to their own LLC for charitable purposesfor instance, curing every disease. This is a noble ambition, but perhaps more noble, and certainly more democratic, would be to distribute that stock among the people who made it valuable in the first place: Facebooks users. Like the British retailer John Lewis Partnership did for its employees, the stock could be held in a trust that users directly control and have the opportunity to benefit from.

On the one hand, Mr. Zuckerberg would be demonstrating that he takes democracy seriouslythat he really believes in collective wisdom, rightly organized and incentivized, as wiser than any one mind. On the other hand, users might then have at least a seat in the boardroom when decisions are being made about what to do with their valuable, personal data now locked up in the platform.

This is not only just; it is sensible. Co-ownership means real accountability. It would prevent fiascos of governance without ownership, like when Reddit users revolted and shut down large swaths of the platform. It would also foster a kind of self-regulation, which might forestall governments from further erecting an onerous patchwork of their own constraints. In the United States, for instance, cooperative electric utilities face far less state regulation than their investor-owned counterparts.

Most of all, sharing ownership would be just. If Mr. Zuckerberg is up to the task of forming the new world media order and doing it democratically, lets at least make that democracy honest.

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Dear Mark Zuckerberg: Democracy is not a Facebook focus group. - America Magazine

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has said that Indonesias democracy has gone too far as it has allowed sectarianism to flourish and threaten national unity.

Speaking to leaders of political parties at an event held by the Hanura Party in Sentul, Bogor, West Java, on Wednesday, the President expressed his concerns that political freedom has paved the way for extreme political practices, such as liberalism, radicalism, sectarianism, fundamentalism and other ideologies that are against Pancasila.

"Many people have asked me if our democracy has gone too far. My answer is yes, it has," Jokowi said.

Jokowi, whose victory in the 2014 presidential election was widely touted as a victory for Indonesian democracy, said the politicization of sectarian issues and the rise of hate speech and fake news reflecteda deviation in [our] democratic practices.

Jokowis statement came after thousands of conservative Muslims swarmed the House of Representatives compound on Tuesday to demand that the legislative body push President Jokowi to suspend Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama. It was the latest political demonstration against the Jakarta leader, now on trial for blasphemy.

(Read also: Severe congestion at anti-Ahok rally site)

The remarkable rise of Ahok, a Christian and Chinese-Indonesian, in Indonesian politics has provoked hard-line Islamic groups and sparked debates about relations between religion and politics in the Muslim majority country.

In the past four to five months our energy was entirely spent on [sectarian issues] so we forgot about economic growth, the President said. (ary)

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Jokowi warns against 'excessive democracy' - Jakarta Post