Goverment. I suppose it’s time that you learn about government in Norway. I think I found the longest description ever of the norsk regjering: parliamentaristisk representativ demokratisk inskrenket monarki (parliamentary representative democratic constitutional monarchy). What does that mean, you might ask? It means that executive power rests with the King (Kong Harald) and his council, the cabinet, which is led by the Prime Minister (statsministeren), Jens Stoltenberg. Legislative power is held by both regjeringen and Stortinget (the parliament), which is elected within a multi-party system. The Judiciary branch is separate from the legislative and the executive branches.
As I have mentioned in previous posts, den norske grunnloven (the Norwegian Constitution) was signed at Eidsvoll in 1814. This document transformed the government from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy. Although the signing of grunnloven in 1814 granted the people of Norway more frihet (freedom), Norway was in a union with Sverige (Sweden) until 1905, at which point Norway became completely sovereign.
Norway was one of the first countries in the world to allow women å stemme (to vote). Universal suffrage became a law in 1913. In 1956, religious freedom was enacted, which abolished prohibition of Jesuits. In general, Norway has been extremely progressive in terms of enacting socially liberal laws. Last year, Norway enacted a lov to allow homosexuals to marry, adopt, and exercise artificial insemination.
In Norway, the king (Kong Harald V, who has reigned since 1991) is for the most part simply a symbol of power. He does not hold the same power that Barack Obama does, for instance. Although grunnloven granted the king important power, the Council of State actually exercises this power. The reigning monarch convenes the Council of the State, which consists of the prime minister and his or her council. Stortinget (the parliament) must support the Council. Typically, the king asks the parliamentary party that has a majority to form the regjering. Since WWII, with the exception of non-Socialist regjeringer, most have been a coaltion.
I often think to myself how well Norway seems to work. Universal health care, high average salary, healthy population, etc. Sometimes I forget how small of a country Norway really is and how much money Norway really has. There are some qualities that a country so large and diverse as the United States will experience great difficulty achieving. I certainly welcome any thoughts on this!
Comments:
Nuno Cardoso:
I think norwegian people are truly unselfish, and they can trust each other and on governmental institutions because there’s no motivation on ilicit personal gain. Also, they are not control freaks, they let people be happy regardless of their sexual orientation, religion, ethnic or beliefs. That’s really unique.
In other countries, they have problems because they didn’t received immigran
Nuno Cardoso:
I think norwegian people are truly unselfish, and they can trust each other and on governmental institutions because there’s no motivation on ilicit personal gain. Also, they are not control freaks, they let people be happy regardless of their sexual orientation, religion, ethnic or beliefs. That’s really unique.
In other countries, most problems arise because they still have a selfish part in their culture, and because they are less tolerant with minorities (gay rights, old immigration ghettos, etc).
Ruth Norem:
What is rødgrønne? I have seen it on Aftenpost and it gets translated as “dye” which I know is not correct. It has something to do with politics, but I can’t seen to catch the nuance of the word.
Kari:
rødgrønne stands for SV-sosialistisk venstrepartiet-the socialist left party
Olav:
Rødgrønne is a term used to describe the goverment which consist of SV (red), AP (red) and Senterpartiet (green). It’s a left-middle goverment.
The political landscape of parties on Stortinget is in colors from the left
Rødt (extremely red)
Sosialistisk Venstreparti, SV (red)
Arbeidpartiet, AP (less red then SV,)
Senterpartiet, SP (green)
Kristelig Folkeparti, KRF (yellow)
Venstre, V (green)
Høyre, H (blue)
Fremskrittspartiet (extremely blue)
Some would argue that Venstre as a green party should change place with Krf as a yellow party, but they’re all in the middle of Norwegian politics. The yellow color of Krf is because family values is Krf’s main issue, but environment is Venstre’s main issue.
The parties Sp, Krf and V is called the Centrumparties.
A funny thing is that the left side uses red and the right side uses blue, but in America it’s the opposite (Democrats blue and Republicans red)
It’s election day next monday. As of now the polls are dead even. There has never been so many different options.
1. Ap, Sv and Sv
2. Just Ap
3. H, Krf and V
4. H and Frp
5. Just Frp
It will be a thriller