Excerpt:
The brutal massacre of young Norwegians attending a political youth camp on the island of Utøya near Oslo has shaken Scandinavian politics. And while much of this change has come in a seemingly paradoxical form of governments' confirming existing policies, it is no less significant in rejecting pressures for change that had been building before the terrorist attack.
In Norway itself, the immediate response was what could be expected. The nation — and especially the political establishment and its media — understandably rallied behind both its prime minister and government, with calls for a full investigation into the shooting as well as international cooperation to search for possible outside terrorist links to the shooter, Anders Breivik.
On a regional basis, the main response was a joint declaration by the three "conservative" prime ministers — the Danish Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Sweden's Fredrik Reinfeldt, and Finland's Jyrki Katainen — in support of Norway's government and people. It was widely published in all four countries.