The elec­tion is de­cided. Now power(less­ness) awaits at Chris­ti­ans­borg

“It is important to me that my book does not invite a conversation about feeling sorry for politicians. We should not. They have an interesting job and a good salary.”

This is how Emil Husted, Associate Professor at the Department of Organization at CBS, puts it.

He sits in a homely office in Frederiksberg, surrounded by soft armchairs and tightly packed bookshelves. His point comes early in the conversation. 

“What I hope we will talk about instead are the conditions we have created for political decision-making and the problems these conditions create.”

He refers to the findings from one and a half years of fieldwork at Christiansborg, where he has studied how politicians and employees experience their work and why many of them increasingly feel a sense of powerlessness.

You come with ambition but end up with powerlessness

Originally, the plan was different. Emil Husted wanted to explore the culture at Christiansborg – the everyday routines, the ways people interact, and the working life behind political decisions.

“I began the project with the idea that it would be interesting to understand the culture in parliament, and whether different parties have different cultures. But quite quickly, the conversations started to revolve around well-being,” he explains.

Through interviews and observations of politicians and employees, a picture emerged of a workplace where the ambition to make a difference often clashes with the demands of daily work.

Several of the politicians he followed had only been at Christiansborg for about a year before frustration began to set in.

“At first, you think it is your own fault that you cannot figure it out. But gradually, you realise that certain structures make you feel like you run against a brick wall,” says Emil Husted.

It is not just about the pace

In his book ‘Afmagtens Centrum (can be translated into ‘The centre of powerlessness’)’, Emil Husted describes how an acceleration society characterised by a constantly increasing pace has left a clear mark on the work at Christiansborg.

News breaks constantly, reactions are expected immediately, and the agenda shifts from hour to hour. This leaves politicians with a sense of always having to be “on”. 

At the same time, a work culture has developed where days are long and tightly scheduled from morning to evening. Calendars are filled with meetings, negotiations and media appearances.

In addition, MPs in Denmark differ from many of their international counterparts by serving on a high number of committees. While parliamentarians in other countries typically sit on fewer and more specialised committees, it is common in Denmark for individual politicians to be affiliated with five to six committees at the same time.

But pace does not explain everything, Emil Husted emphasises: 

“We cannot not reduce this to a question of speed.” 

According to Husted, the problem is rather a cocktail of conditions: constant switching between tasks, an overwhelming workload, intense internal competition and continuous media exposure.

“It creates a sense of alienation. It is difficult to find many other workplaces where all these elements are combined.”

At the same time, many politicians experience something that may seem paradoxical. Inside the parliamentary chamber, at the very heart of power, they feel powerless.

Part of the explanation is that a large share of political negotiations and agreements now take place outside the chamber – in ministries and in political agreements between parties, where the overall lines are drawn.

A system without resonance

In his analysis, Emil Husted draws on the German sociologist Hartmut Rosa and the concept of resonance – the feeling of a meaningful connection between people and their work.

When resonance disappears, alienation arises.

“Politicians lose the sense of being in touch with what they are doing,” he explains.

This creates a paradox: They work more than ever but they experience less influence.

Some respond by seeking back to local politics.

“We see some of them returning to local politics or other arenas where the distance to citizens is smaller," says Emil Husted, noting that other motives may also play a role, such as prestige.

“It may also be that it feels better to be a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big pond.”

According to Emil Husted, the consequences extend far beyond the individual politician.

“When more people withdraw from Christiansborg or lose their sense of meaning in their work, it affects the very way democracy functions. It is not just an individual problem. It is a democratic problem,” he says.

If politicians feel they do not have real influence or do not have time to properly engage with what they decide on, the quality of decisions may decline.

At the same time, it may influence who is willing to enter politics in the first place.

“If work feels like it erodes meaning, it becomes harder to attract and retain talented people. Ultimately, that is a problem for democracy.”

The question, then, is not only how politicians are doing, but what kind of democracy these conditions help shape.

Newly elected politicians should rethink their role

There are no simple solutions, but according to Emil Husted, there are places to start.

First, it is about resources in the form of better administrative support, e.g. secretaries, advisers and civil servants.

Today, so-called group support follows the parties, and a large share is concentrated within party leaderships. This leaves individual MPs with limited opportunities to build their own professional capacity.

It is particularly members of the opposition, as well as less prominent members of governing parties, who receive limited support. 

“So they could consider allocating more resources directly to individual members,” he says. 

Second, he points to the need for stronger professional support from the Danish Parliament’s administration, so that politicians have better opportunities to prepare and participate meaningfully in legislative work.

Finally, it is about culture.

“There are many norms in the Danish Folketing, but they are often implicit. A clearer shared set of values could boost collaboration as well as the sense of meaning,” says Emil Husted.

If he were to give one piece of advice to newly elected politicians, it would be to hold on to what brought them into politics in the first place.

“You should try to hold on to your original motivation. If you, for example, wanted to be a politician to represent people or fight for a cause, it is important not to lose that connection,” he says.