A Progressive Perspective: Danish series Borgen is must see television on Netflix (IRWIN STOOLMACHER COLUMN) - The Trentonian

Borgen is a 30 episode Danish political drama on Netflix that chronicles the rise, periodic stumbles, fall, and reemergence of Brigitte Nyborg, a complex charismatic fictitious figure, who through a highly unlikely set of unusual circumstances becomes Denmark's first female prime minister. Borgen focuses on Nyborg, her staff, and the media tasked with covering her.

The name of the show is derived from Chistiansborg Palace in Copenhagen, which houses Denmark's three branches of government – the Parliament, the Prime Minister's Office, and the Supreme Court.

Borgen is by far the best political drama series I've ever seen and that includes The West Wing and House of Cards. It takes a hard look at human behavior, morality, and ethics in politics. You come away with a better understanding of the difficulties and pressures "a generally principled person" like Brigitte Nyborg grapples with on a daily basis in politics.

I like the fact that Borgen doesn't paint an overly idealistic picture of multi-party Danish politics, the media, or the role that big business plays in Denmark's politics.  Borgen also does a really good job depicting the everyday grind of politics – replete with petty infighting, sexism, personal ambition, dishonesty, half-truths, political intrigue, spin doctors, influence peddlers, bullying billionaires, sleazy tabloids all too frequently interested in securing headlines rather than truth-telling and state-run TV networks struggling to be relevant. Politics is oftentimes overwhelming and frequently changes people for the worst.

Brigitte Nyborg, the series chief protagonist, is an extremely complex multi-dimensional figure. She is a strong, smart, ambitious centralist who utilizes all of the considerable skills in her toolbox to put together a coalition government. We see all of Nyborg's talents on display as she assembles a diverse cabinet and then adroitly interacts with the myriad of political parties in Borgen's Denmark, i.e., the Social Democrats, the Danish People's Party, the Liberals, the Moderates, the Conservative People's Party, the Green Party, and the Freedom Party, etc (not real Danish Parties).

Brigitte is forced, by reality, into being a contortionist as she attempts to put together temporary coalitions to pass watered-down versions of legislation on issues of importance to her. Given the sharp political divides that exist between the left and the right wings, crafting compromises is extremely difficult.

What comes across loud and clear is that even a fundamentally virtuous politician must oftentimes in politics make compromises that are disheartening. In fact, they must frequently support specific proposals that they find distasteful in order to enact bigger policies that they feel are of greater and long-term importance. Borgen doesn't fault Brigitte for not always being decent, even when she is forced to jettison long-term friends who have become political liabilities.

The difficulty she faced as prime minister reminds me a lot of the impediments that Presidents Obama and Biden faced from recalcitrant Republicans.

With the exception of one very slimy politician-turned-tabloid editor, all of Borgen's heroes and heroines are complicated people who have pluses and minuses. None of the characters are perfect, or for that matter pure evil, although from time to time they take some rather unprincipled actions and engage in rather devious ploys. Further, many seem to struggle as they attempt to balance their relationship between work and home.

This is especially true of the female characters, most notably Nyborg, who struggles with being a wife, mother, and prime minister.  In season 3 she is diagnosed with a precancerous breast tumor and initially struggles with difficult radiation treatment in silence, unwilling to let her family staff and the public in on her secret. The show does an excellent job of expressing the high cost that politics can have on one's personal life. The more successful Nyborg becomes as prime minister, the more her personal life unravels.  Her children feel neglected and her marriage fails.

At the end of the second season, Nyborg loses an election and steps away from politics for a few years (we see her as a lecturer and businessperson in Hong Kong). During her time away, her party, the Moderates, have taken a fairly dramatic rightward anti-immigration turn. She decides to attempt to create a new party, the New Democrats (there is an amusing scene in which various names for the new party are considered). Through a series of adroit moves, Nyborg builds a following for the new party and gains some seats in parliament and emerges as a kingmaker, as the main parties of the Left and the Right cannot manage to secure enough support to form a government. After being tempted to form a coalition with the Labour Party, Nyborg eventually accepts the Liberals' offer (after learning that the Labour Party had previously planned to work with the nationalists of the Freedom Party) and becomes the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The fourth season of Borgen will begin in 2022 and will focus on Nyborg as Denmark's Minister of Foreign Affairs.  I'm looking forward to seeing how Brigitte balances the moral and practical considerations on issues such as immigration, security, and privacy and how to keep a comprehensive social safety net in a world where one's economic competitors cut costs by not having one.  In light of the recent controversy regarding the Biden Administration's returning the Haitian migrants back to Haiti, I'm especially interested in seeing whether Nyborg seeks to expand or loosen Denmark's tight immigration laws which are strongly supported by the anti-immigrant nationalistic Freedom Party.

Irwin Stoolmacher is president of the Stoolmacher Consulting Group, a fundraising and strategic planning firm that works with nonprofit agencies that serve the truly needy among us.