How Norway Sees the New Global Order: A Conversation with Member of Parliament Himanshu Gulati
Breaking into politics and making a difference
A conversation with a Norwegian parliamentarian about political ambition, immigration, European security and India’s growing international influence.
Himanshu Gulati entered Norwegian politics at 17, left medical school after a single semester and, by 25, was serving in government.
His family had imagined a different career. The son of Indian immigrants and a member of a family of doctors, Gulati had grown up with medicine as the familiar professional path. Politics offered uncertainty, public scrutiny and a far less conventional future.
Norway’s political system gave him an early point of entry. The country’s major parties operate youth organisations that allow teenagers and young adults to develop political arguments, build networks and assume genuine organisational responsibility.
For Gulati, that structure became a route from youthful conviction to national office. After leading his party’s youth wing, he joined the government formed following Norway’s 2013 election. He served first as a deputy minister of justice and later in the prime minister’s office, attending cabinet meetings for three years. At 29, he was elected to Parliament.
In this episode of the Network Capital podcast, Gulati reflects on that accelerated political education and on the demands facing a small but strategically important European country. The discussion moves from the mechanics of parliamentary life to immigration, war, energy and the changing balance of power among Europe, the United States, China and India.
Politics Beyond a Predetermined Path
Gulati’s rise followed an unusual sequence. Many politicians establish themselves as legislators before moving into executive government. He began near the centre of executive power and later entered Parliament.
That reversal shaped his understanding of ambition. His years observing cabinet government gave him an early view of senior political authority. Today, he places greater emphasis on using his position effectively than on pursuing a grander title.
Parliament offers a different form of influence. A legislator can pursue individual cases, meet businesses and constituents, propose legislation, question ministers and participate in public debate. For a politician interested in foreign affairs, the role also brings sustained contact with diplomats, allies and international institutions.
The working day is correspondingly varied. It may begin with a party meeting, continue in the parliamentary chamber and then move through meetings with delegations, constituents or industry representatives. The evening may end in a television studio.
“You really don’t have one job,” Gulati said. “You have five different jobs.”
Immigration, Opportunity and Integration
Gulati describes his own experience as evidence of what he calls the “Norwegian dream”: the proposition that effort and determination can carry greater weight than family origin.
He sees his Indian heritage as a political advantage, offering additional networks and a wider field of reference. His career, he suggested, demonstrates the openness of Norwegian institutions to people of different ethnic and religious backgrounds.
His account also turns towards the practical demands of integration.
Norway, like several other European countries, has faced unemployment, welfare dependency, parallel communities and the overrepresentation of some immigrant groups in crime statistics, he said. He divides integration into two broad tests: economic participation and commitment to the civic values of the wider society.
The first concerns whether newcomers are able and encouraged to work, earn a living and contribute as taxpayers. The second concerns principles including gender equality, democratic participation and resistance to political extremism.
Gulati argues that generous welfare systems can weaken incentives to enter employment when long-term benefits become a viable substitute for work. His view belongs to a wider European debate about the design of social support and its influence on participation in the labour market.
His preferred immigration system would draw a clearer distinction between humanitarian assistance and labour migration. Europe, he said, has often treated immigration primarily as a means of helping people in danger. He favours providing more support to refugees closer to their home regions while making migration into Europe more responsive to labour shortages and skills.
The argument leads to difficult practical and moral questions. Governments must decide how to measure successful integration, how much time displaced people require to acquire skills and what obligations wealthy states owe to those who need sustained support.
The conversation presents immigration as a debate about welfare, national identity, civic values and political trust.
Foreign Policy After Predictability
Gulati serves as deputy chairman of the Norwegian Parliament’s committee on foreign affairs and defence. His portfolio places him at the intersection of several crises that have transformed Europe’s strategic assumptions.
He describes the current period as one in which longstanding alliances remain essential while foreign policy becomes more explicitly interest-driven. Countries that once organised partnerships mainly around shared values may increasingly cooperate with governments whose immediate strategic interests align with their own.
For Norway, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation remains the foundation of national security. The United States remains indispensable to that alliance, even as changes in political rhetoric and policy require careful European navigation.
Gulati argues that European governments should preserve their relationship with Washington while expressing their differences clearly. In his view, the partnership rests on decades of shared security interests and continues to hold central importance.
The war in Ukraine has reinforced the importance of collective defence. Gulati characterises Russia’s invasion as unprovoked and argues that supporting Ukraine represents both a moral obligation and a matter of European security. A Russian victory, he warned, could encourage further conflict.
He also expresses hope for a negotiated end to the war, an outcome that would require compromise and sustained diplomatic pressure. He expects that military and economic pressure may eventually bring Russia towards talks.
Energy as Security
Few countries embody the overlap among economics, energy and geopolitics as clearly as Norway.
As a major supplier of natural gas to Europe, Norway has acquired greater strategic importance since the disruption of Russian energy supplies. Gulati argues that energy policy now belongs at the centre of national strategy. It affects household costs, industrial competitiveness, political stability and security.
Governments that struggle to provide reliable and affordable energy can face protests and deep political instability. Energy, in his formulation, is also foreign policy and security policy.
The same convergence appears in defence. Norway is committing substantial resources to military spending, research and modernisation, according to Gulati. The war in Ukraine has exposed the importance of drones and other relatively inexpensive technologies capable of transforming the battlefield. Military planners must invest in new weapons as well as protection against them.
Modern warfare also changes the experience of individual soldiers, who may now be observed and targeted by small unmanned systems at close range.
India’s Expanding Role
He presents India as both an economic opportunity and an increasingly confident geopolitical actor. For European countries facing slower growth, India offers a vast market, a growing economy and potential partnerships in fields including green technology, seafood and industrial development.
He also draws a contrast between Western attitudes towards India and China. European and American cooperation with China has often been accompanied by concerns about intellectual property, security and intelligence gathering. Partnerships with India, he argues, tend to inspire greater strategic confidence.
That confidence, in his view, rests on more than commerce. India’s democratic system and its relationships with Western countries make collaboration appear politically durable, even when negotiations prove difficult or interests diverge.
Norway’s population of roughly 5.5 million gives the relationship a distinctive scale. The country possesses specialised expertise, capital and technology that could support India’s development while opening new markets for Norwegian businesses.
Gulati points to green technology, energy, seafood and industrial partnerships as areas of particular promise.
Office and Leadership
Near the end of the conversation, Gulati is asked whether he imagines becoming prime minister.
He redirects the discussion from office to leadership. The more consequential distinction, he suggests, lies between holding a position and creating meaningful change.
Political systems are designed to produce stability, compromise and continuity. Those qualities protect democracies from impulsive decisions. They can also make ambitious reform painstakingly slow. Politicians may enter government promising transformation and then discover that institutions define the pace and scope of action.
Gulati’s stated aspiration centres on retaining the ability to challenge those institutional boundaries.
The tension is an old one. Democracies need leaders capable of changing systems and institutions capable of preserving stability. Gulati’s career, from a youth party to the prime minister’s office and then Parliament, has given him an unusually close view of both forces.
In an age of war, migration disputes and unstable alliances, that tension may define his political future and Europe’s wider direction.