GOVERNMENT
The functions
of the king are mainly ceremonial, but he has influence as the
symbol of national unity. Although the 1814 constitution grants
important executive powers to the king, these are almost always
exercised by the Council of Ministers in the name of the king
(King's Council). The Council of Ministers consists of a prime
minister--chosen by the political parties represented in the Storting--and
other ministers.
The 169 members of the Storting are elected from 19 fylker (counties) for 4-year terms according to a complicated system of proportional representation. After elections, the Storting divides into two chambers, the Odelsting and the Lagting, which meet separately or jointly depending on the legislative issue under consideration.
The special
High Court of the Realm hears impeachment cases; the regular courts
include the Supreme Court (17 permanent judges and a president),
courts of appeal, city and county courts, the labor court, and
conciliation councils. Judges attached to regular courts are appointed
by the king in council after nomination by the Ministry of Justice.
Each fylke
is headed by a governor appointed by the king in council, with
one governor exercising authority in both Oslo and the adjacent
county of Akershus.
POLITICAL
CONDITIONS
Until the 1981 election, Norway had been governed by majority Labor Party governments since 1935, except for three periods (1963, 1965-71, and 1972-73). The Labor Party lost its majority in the Storting in the 1981 elections.
From 1981 to 1997, governments alternated between Labor minority governments and Conservative-led coalition governments. The first government coalition led by Christian Democrat Kjell Magne Bondevik came to power in 1997, but fell in March 2000 over the issue of proposed gas-fired power plants, opposed by Bondevik due to their impact on climate change. The Labor Party's Jens Stoltenberg, a Brundtland protégé, took over in a minority Labor government but lost power in the September 2001 election when Labor posted its worse performance since World War I. Bondevik once again became Prime Minister, this time as head of a minority government with the Conservatives and Liberals in a coalition heavily dependent upon the right-populist Progress Party.
The September 2005 elections ended the Bondevik government, and the Labor party came back with its most substantial victory in years, securing 60 of the 169 seats in Parliament. While this election result once more made Labor the undisputed heavyweight in Norwegian politics, Stoltenberg, chastened by his previous stint as the head of a minority government, reached out to the far left Socialist Left party and agrarian Center party to form a coalition government that commanded a majority of seats in Parliament. The current government is the first majority government in Norway in over 20 years, but the governing coalition has had to bridge substantial policy differences to build this majority.
The new government that took office in October 2005 issued a Northern Policy that represented a compromise among petroleum, fishing, and environmental interests in the use of Norway's northern offshore area. This "High North" strategy has remained one of the constant themes of this government and encompasses many of the government's highest priorities, including environmental protection, responsible development of energy resources, maintaining a security presence in the Arctic, and developing Norway's relations with Russia.
Principal
Government Officials
King--Harald V
Prime Minister--Jens Stoltenberg
Minister of Foreign Affairs--Jonas Gahr Støre
Minister of Defense--Anne-Grethe Strøm Erichsen
Ambassador to the United States--Wegger Christian Strommen
Ambassador to NATO--Kim Traavik
Ambassador to the United Nations--Johan Ludvik Løvald
Norway
maintains an embassy in the
United States at 2720 - 34th Street NW, Washington, DC 20008 (tel.
202-333-6000) and consulates in Houston, Minneapolis, New York,
and San Francisco.
Government Type: Hereditary
constitutional monarchy.
Independence: 1905.
Constitution: May 17, 1814.
Branches: Executive--king (chief of state), prime minister
(head of government), Council of Ministers (cabinet). Legislative--modified
unicameral parliament (Storting). Judicial--Supreme Court, appellate
courts, city and county courts.
Political parties: Labor, Conservative, Center, Christian
Democratic, Liberal, Socialist Left, Progress.
Suffrage: Universal over 18.
Administrative subdivisions: 19 fylker (counties), and
Svalbard.
National holiday: May 17.
