That is, the Norwegian state, according to an intriguing article in Aftenposten about how regional effectivisation has made life hard for the politicians. My favourite headline of the week, with the charming subtitle "Politicians want the control back". It sounds like the state has taken on a life of it's own and the politicians are scrambling to rein in the monster they have unleashed upon the world. However, the actual article centres on a NIBR report commissioned by the Modernisation and Administration departement.

The bottom line of the article is that the current centre-left coalition government, in line with its centralist instincts, feels uncomfortable with the decentralisation and "limited company-fication" (freely translated) of the former coalition government of the Conservatives, Liberals and Christian Democrats.