Nordic Green Modernity as Speculation, 1970-1980

• In Event: Environment and the State: Authoritarianism, Democracy, and Notions of Modernity

Abstract

In the early 1970s, Norway faced an emerging challenge to its national narrative. While Norwegian officials touted “environmental protection [as] a trade article” (Buns and Hinde 2023) at conferences like Expo ’70 and the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment, the prospect of an extractivist future loomed over government-backed developments at newly discovered oil fields on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. On the southwestern horizon, where once there had only been spectacular gatherings of North Atlantic fish, Norwegians now also saw oil—and, after the 1973 oil crisis, 1977 Bravo blowout, and 1980 rig disaster, some harboured doubts about the extent to which oil, fish, and the Nordic brand of social democratic modernity could co-exist.

In this virtual paper, I would frame oil reserves as a vehicle for both narrative and financial speculation to discuss the stories Norwegians told in the 1970s of themselves and of their future. Following Buns and Hinde’s construction of the ‘Nordic Green Modern,’ I would ask how ideas of justice, progress, place, and peripherality influenced the range of options open to speculators—including activists, politicians, and investors—with a stake in Norway’s future.

The topic connects closely with the MPhil research I will be undertaking from October 2023 at the University of Cambridge. The chance to present at ASEH 2024 would be invaluable in helping me connect with scholars, especially those outside the UK, with perspectives to add on modern Scandinavian history and on the intersection of state-backed oil extraction and environmental justice.

Author

• Jay Richardson, University of Cambridge