Government
Norway is a constitutional monarchy, however the monarch is largely a ceremonial head of state. State power is formally distributed between three institutions: the Storting (the legislative power), the Government (the executive power) and the courts (the judicial power). In addition, the public administration, which was designed to serve the needs of the political bodies, is sometimes viewed as a fourth state power, as it now takes independent action and can exert influence on the shaping of policies. There is also a geographical distribution of political power into state, county and municipal levels.
Executive power is vested in the Prime Minister and a Council of State; which comprises 16 ministries. The political head of the ministry is called Statsråd (Minister) and each ministry functions as the minister’s main instrument for translating policy into action. All ministers serve as members of the Council of State, where their formal task is to advise the King on the decisions which are to be taken by the King in Council. These meetings take place every Friday at the Royal Palace in Oslo. The Storting (the Norwegian Assembly) comprises 165 members and is elected for a four-year period. The highest court of law in Norway is the Høyesterett (Supreme Court), which comprises a Chief Justice and 17 permanent judges.
Norway has a multi-dimensional party system. The most important of these is the left-right dimension, where the parties are distributed along an axis according to their concern with equitable distribution and public planning and control. To the left are the socialist parties, such as the Social Left Party and the Labour Party. Furthest to the right are the Party of Progress and the Conservative Party. The Centre Party, the Christian Democratic Party and the Liberal Party are found in the middle of the left-right axis.
Two priorities in particular are reflected in post-war Norwegian public policy: increased wealth and equitable distribution. Until 1971, the State played a key role in planning the economy. The people were clearly in favour of enhanced public support, security, service and controls, and these were provided. The introduction of the Norwegian National Insurance (1967) and the expansion of major areas of the educational and the health-care sectors were all initiated as part of the large-scale “public revolution”. During this period, public expenditures increased from about one third to one half of the gross domestic product, an outlay that has subsequently been maintained. Since the 1970s, there has been increased focus on a market framework, leading to decentralisation of public tasks to the local level or to independent institutions such as Telenor (Norwegian telecom supplier).
Norway is divided into 19
fylker (counties), including the capital city of Oslo (known as Christiania from 1624-1877 and Kristiania from 1877-1925 before reverting to its original name), which enjoys the status of a separate county but does not have a county municipality like all of the other counties. Geographically Akershus county surrounds the city of Oslo and these two counties are often referred to as one unit (Oslo and Akershus Counties).
The other 17 counties are: Aust-Agder, Buskerud, Finnmark, Hedmark, Hordaland, Møre og Romsdal, Nordland, Nord-Trøndelag, Oppland, Rogaland, Sogn og Fjordane, Sør-Trøndelag, Telemark, Troms, Vest-Agder, Vestfold and Østfold. County administrations serve as a link between central and local government, which comprises 434 municipalities.
