What failed in Norway?

Yet, confronted with their respective tragedies, Japan and Norway displayed a very similar combination of qualities and flaws.

In both countries, civil society reacted to the events in a remarkable manner, with a sense of unity, dignity, and reaffirmed national cohesiveness. But, while citizens in both countries have emerged more confident in themselves and in their core values, the security authorities' performance clearly fell short. As a result, Japanese and Norwegians might emerge more critical - and justifiably so - of their respective official bureaucracies. Hail to the people, who had to supplement with their own ingenuity the organisational capacity of those who were in charge of their protection.