Policy In Norway Research Articles

‘In a very few years, we stepped several miles’: how eliminating gender-based violence became (and remained) public policy in Norway

Since the 1970s, important struggles were won to improve the ‘publicness’ of gender-based violence (GBV) in Norway. Since 2000, the Ministry of Justice has coordinated policy work to combat GBV for the Norwegian government. In 2010, a Shelter Act made the provision of domestic violence shelters by local governments mandatory. This article turns to the question of how a public responsibility for GBV was established, and how dedicated public policy, legislation, funding, and services were subsequently realised. This article identifies the crucial actors, factors, and conditions that have had the greatest influence on agenda-setting, policy development and decision making in the policy cycle. Analysis is based on 22 interviews, policy analysis and previous Norwegian studies that have theorised about the success, how it came about, and the decisive factors in achieving change. Participants of this study were academics, activists, specialist service providers, politicians, lawyers, survivor-advocates, and political advisors. In exploring campaigning for change with participants, the study uncovered fault lines within gender equality and violence scholarship and public policy in Norway that may help explain why GBV is still commonplace. The article offers future directions for policy and research that reflect on these discursive exclusions and normative assumptions.

An efficacious remedy for status inequality? Indigenous policies in Norway and Sweden

ABSTRACT Most states publicly support the recognition of Indigenous rights. Nevertheless, their domestic policies to address Indigenous rights issues vary considerably across countries. So far, research has not committed itself to investigating the consequences of different Indigenous policies on the peoples concerned and their social status. Do policy contexts that accommodate Indigenous rights firmly contribute to status equality between Indigenous people and the ethnic majority? I study this question in the case of Norway and Sweden. These countries host one Indigenous people – the Sámi – but pursue diverging Indigenous policies. Using new survey data, I show that, despite the absence of material inequalities, there is a clear gap in the social status perceptions between Indigenous and majority respondents in Sweden. In Norway, I do not find that Sámi’s perception of their social position is lower than the majority's. The results suggest that the Swedish policies governing the recognition of Sámi rights are less effective in resolving unequal status perceptions.

An Experiential Learning Opportunity in Norway: Computation for Bioengineering and Mechanical Engineering Students.

The global learning initiative at Northeastern University is focused on fostering intercultural communication skills. The Dialogue of Civilization (DOC) program serves as a mechanism to achieve such a goal by offering faculty-led international experiences. In this paper, we have presented a detailed account of a DOC program that took place in Norway. The primary objective of the program was to teach mechanical engineering and bio-engineering students computational skills while stimulating critical thinking about the cultural and social aspects of technology and engineering in Norway. The program focused on two courses: a technical course and a special topics course. The technical course introduced students to finite element analysis, with practical applications and site visits in Norway to enhance experiential learning. In the special topics course, the interplay between modern technologies, like green energy, state policies, and the rights and traditions of the indigenous Sámi people was explored. The course highlighted both the progressive social policies in Norway and the historical discrimination against the Sámi. Student feedback was positive and experiential learning components such as guest lectures and site visits were particularly appreciated. Additional surveys showed that students' self-confidence was higher following the DOC program. In addition, female-identifying students had higher confidence in their future success after completion of this program as compared to their male-identifying counterparts. Our paper is expected to serve as a resource for educators seeking to integrate technical education with intercultural experiences and discussions on social and cultural impacts in engineering.

Flexible electricity consumption policies in Norway and Sweden: Implications for energy justice

Policies for shifting household electricity load are in focus in several countries, aimed at optimizing grid operation and tackling current and expected challenges from consumption patterns, like increased peak loads on the grid. Central here are recent developments in capacity charges, where the use of significant amounts of grid capacity is priced high, compared to the traditional pricing of electricity consumption. These capacity charges tend to be developed at the interface between system needs and incumbent actor influence from the sector on the one side, and arguments for a ‘just’ and consumer-oriented design, like simplicity and actual effect on behaviour, on the other. Comparing the consultation processes concerning policy design in Norway and Sweden, this study investigates if and how these capacity charge policies consider consumer perspectives and needs, and explores the implications for energy justice. The two countries have similar tariff models, but differing consumer considerations have become apparent. In both countries, the policy process has been dominated by sector incumbent actors; the consumer considerations that were included were weak, general, and not grounded in knowledge. Consumer representation has been low. In this study, we note the implications for recognition, procedural, and distributional justice. Our findings indicate the need for further development of balanced policy processes within the energy sector.

The norway's policy in the context of the Russia's special military operation in Ukraine

The article examines Norway's policy in terms of the special military operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine (SMO). The author analyses the official position of the Kingdom of Norway on this issue, documents regulating its actions, materials in the media and public polls. Norway is not a member of the EU, therefore it joins sanctions against Russia by decision of its own authorities. Almost all of them coincide, but on some issues (for example, fishing) Norway takes an independent position. The most significant issues for Norwegians are humanitarian and military assistance to Ukraine, as well as anti-Russian sanctions and their consequences. This is reflected in the actions of the Storting, the media, as well as the policy documents of leading political parties. The SMO evokes a negative reaction of all leading political actors in Norway, but at the same time there are differences in the possible ways out of the crisis. Also, not all Norwegian politicians consider it necessary to provide assistance to Ukraine in current volumes. This topic arises in the context of military supplies due to the risk of undermining own defense capability, as well as the threat that it may be recognised as a military participant in the conflict. Measures that influence the domestic life of the Kingdom are also discussed in detail. This includes the reception of refugees and their social security in Norway, as well as sanctions that harm the work of businesses that had connections with Russia.

Why Active State Measures Have Dominated Regional Policies in Norway by Governments of all Colours: A Historical Review and Comparison with Sweden

This article compares regional policies in Norway to regional policies in Sweden. The article suggests that geographical and geopolitical factors are the main factors that have influenced regional policies. The article points out that the government in Sweden, immediately following WW2, also assumed the role of the active state. However, in contrast to Norway, its policies were disadvantageous to northern Sweden. Later, Swedish governments also implemented policies aimed at strengthening the economic and social conditions in the north. The article demonstrates that even bourgeois governments, who are traditionally ‘less-state-more-market’ oriented than social democratic governments, have used active state measures in their regional policies in Norway. The article points out that geographical and geopolitical factors represent interests that are shared by Norway’s centre and periphery and argues that these factors work as political guidelines that fundamentally influence the continuous use of active state policies by bourgeois governments. It concludes that this influence is stronger than bourgeois governments’ ideological foundations, Keynesian economics and the bureaucracy. Northern Sweden, in comparison, lacks the geographical and geopolitical factors of northern Norway, which explains why fewer active state measures have been used by governments in Sweden than in Norway.

Fascist Cultural Diplomacy and Italian Foreign Policy in Norway from the 1930s until the Second World War

This article aims to highlight the diplomatic relations between Italy and Norway during the fascist period, until the regime collapsed at the end of the Second World War. In particular, the paper seeks to reconstruct the main features of Mussolini’s foreign policy, how it was perceived in Norway, how and how the propaganda machine of the Italian authorities tried to influence the image of fascism in Norway. The analysis of the relations between these two states will follow the constraints of foreign policy, which was characterized by alternating phases of openness and secrecy. Consequently, rather than a single phase, there were many stages in the diplomatic relations between the two countries. Cultural diplomacy played a significant role in the two countries’ relations; these included numerous events and trips to Italy, organized by the fascist regime, for Norwegian intellectuals. These served to overcome the geographical distance, and showed a new face for Italy, which was more cultured and linked to its cultural heritage.

Family, a racialized space: A phenomenological approach to examining Afghan refugee families’ language policies in Norway

In this paper, I put forward and apply a phenomenological understanding of body and embodied experience to examine refugee families’ identity (trans)formation and language ideologies and practices. In particular, Kitarō Nishida’s (1870–1945) notion of historical body was adopted to investigate how Afghan refugee families’ lived experiences of forced mobility and life in different countries before their settlement in Norway influence their own as well as their children’s raciolinguistic and cultural/national identities, which in turn, affect their language ideologies and practices. Based on a thematic analysis of the interviews conducted with parents in three families, it was found that, having left Afghanistan at a young age with no hope to return to as well as their forced stays in different countries, Afghan parents have not developed a strong Afghan national identity. This embodied experience was entangled with painful emotions as well that resulted in the parents’ desire for their children to develop strong attachment to Norway and a Norwegian identity. Yet, parents’ wish does not seem to readily realize because the racial differences become an important marker of identity for the children as they grow up and enter the society, leading them to seek their roots. The study contributes to our better understanding of the complexities and nuances of transnational populations’ language ideologies and practices as well as identification and integration processes into the host society.

Practices of the “Library as Place” in Norway

ABSTRACTIn modern society, though public libraries must be equal and neutral “places” to address social problems such as the crisis of democracy and social isolation, it is unclear how the roles and functions of “Library as Place” appear in modern library management policies or practices. This study aimed to clarify the characteristics of public library policies in Norway and Oslo and the practices of the Oslo public library from the perspective of the “Library as Place.” Using Kawamoto and Koizumi's (2023) model, a qualitative content analysis and case analysis were conducted of the roles and functions of “Libraries as Place” in Oslo, Norway, identifying the access to materials and information that libraries have traditionally afforded alongside the implementation of distinctive functions such as Cultural activities, Cutting edge, Improving life skills, and Meeting place as concrete practices. These functions contribute to public libraries becoming places in the heart of the community whose services are accessible to all.

Attaining environmental sustainability amidst the interacting forces of natural resource rent and foreign direct investment: Is Norway any different?

AbstractThis is a study of Norway's sustainable environment development amidst the interactions of natural resources, external investment (FDI) and economic development. Much has been done with respect to the study of Norway's economic performance in relation to the link between the natural resources and FDI with little emphasis on the environmental performance of the resource‐based economy. Also, Norway is classified as among the top countries in Europe with a greater percentage of adopting renewable energy, and no study has done a critical review of the impact of natural resources and FDI which are part of drivers of carbon emission that can counter the positive impact of renewable energy towards the Norway's sustainable environment. On this basis, this study adopts a time series data of Norway, 1970 to 2018 to study its environmental performance. Approaches such as structural break analysis, Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL)‐bound testing and Granger causality estimations are utilised in this study for in‐depth analysis of the subject. Findings from ARDL confirmed a positive association between fuels and carbon emission, other indicators (economic growth and natural resources) are improving the quality of the country's environment. FDI even though shows positive sign remains insignificant in impacting the environmental performance in the short run reverted to a significant negative relationship with carbon emissions. This confirms the pollution halo hypothesis and rejects the pollution haven hypothesis (PHH) for Norway, and this trend can be sustained with the constant implementation of environmental rules in the country. Granger test confirms, a one‐way transition from fossil fuels to carbon emission, from carbon emission to growth, and from economic growth to fossil fuels. Also, a two‐way transmission is found between fossil fuels and FDI. These findings from Granger causality are consistent with the findings from ARDL, hence, two ways interactions between FDI and fossil fuel energy source consumption from Granger causality and the two variables (fossil fuels and FDI) are seen impacting on Norway's environmental performance. Findings from the estimates suggest that natural resources and FDI are mitigating pollution, hence, Norway's policy is expected to be resources and FDI driven in sustainable environment development.

Exploring paths and innovation in Norwegian carbon capture and storage policy

AbstractNorway, a significant petroleum producer and exporter, has been a frontrunner within policies for carbon capture and storage (CCS). As CCS is recognized as a key technology for achieving the Paris climate policy targets, there is a clear need for more knowledge about how to design successful projects. Norway's first CCS policy initiative, the ambitious Mongstad project, was the result of a political compromise that was imposed from above, basically with one single company in control. The project was largely seen as a failure and was terminated in 2013. However, instead of dropping ambitions for developing CCS projects, the authorities launched a new policy soon afterwards. This policy evolved with the differently organized Longship CCS project as its core. Using a path‐dependency perspective, we find that established institutional structures from the Mongstad project, combined with national interests and expertise, help to explain the fundamental continuity of CCS policies in Norway. This explanation is supplemented by a policy‐learning perspective, which helps to explain policy changes and differences between the two flagship CCS projects. The Longship project developed gradually ‘from below’; linked project responsibilities close to competences and interests; dealt with key risks separately to reduce the inherent complexity; and organized clear requirements up front. We hold that this way of designing CCS projects is of relevance to other countries considering CCS projects. Furthermore, by placing the Norwegian case in context of the development of EU and international climate policy we contribute a theoretical framework relevant also for subsequent research.

The moral economy of the cultural sector

ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to deepen our understanding of the moral outlook that characterizes cultural organizations as political actors. Through a review of contributions to a public consultation on cultural policy in Norway, we seek to elucidate the moral economy these actors bring to bear on their relations to the state. More specifically, we focus on the actors’ understandings of the state’s moral obligations towards the cultural sector and how these notions relate to the experiences and concerns of cultural organizations. One such experience that surfaces in the public consultation is the strong engagement of members of cultural organizations, while another is a sense of vulnerability and perceived threats to art and culture posed by various forces in society. Against this background, we explore different understandings of the roles and responsibilities of the state in cultural policy that cultural organizations give voice to, noting the dominance of a conception of cultural policy as state patronage. In accordance with this understanding, the obligations of the state are to recognize the unique value and importance of cultural organizations, to provide them with the necessary resources, and to protect them from external threats.

Evaluation and prioritization of food environment policies in Norway using the Healthy Food Environment Policy Index (Food-EPI)

Background: Government policies promoting healthier food environments can contribute to healthier diets and prevent obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases.
 Objective: To assess the level of implementation of internationally recommended food environment policies in Norway and establish prioritised actions to create healthier food environments.
 Design: The Healthy Food Environment Policy Index (Food-EPI) was adapted to the Norwegian context. It comprised 45 good practice indicators of government food environment policy and infrastructure support. Systematically compiled evidence of relevant policies was verified by government officials and formed the basis for assessing the level of implementation of these policies compared against international best practice benchmarks. The assessment was done by a national non-government expert panel (n = 35). The experts thereafter proposed and prioritized policy actions for government implementation.
 Results: Most indicators were rated at a medium or high degree of implementation in both the policy action (69%) and the infrastructure support (77%) components. No indicators were rated as having ‘none or very little implementation’. Among the 14 recommended policy actions, active use of price regulation to increase the price of unhealthy foods and decrease the price of healthy foods was the highest priority. Other top priorities were ensuring healthy food environments in public settings and introducing free school meals. Demonstrating knowledge-based and coherent political leadership in public health nutrition policies was the highest priority among the 11 recommended infrastructure support actions.
 Conclusion: The overall policies in Norway to promote a healthy diet show a medium to high level of implementation. This study highlights that there is still room for additional improvements in Norwegian policies and infrastructure support to promote healthy food environments.

“Overestimated technology – underestimated consequences” – reflections on risks, ethical conflicts, and social disparities in the handling of non-invasive prenatal tests (NIPTs)

New technologies create new complexities. Since non-invasive prenatal tests (NIPTs) were first introduced, keeping pace with complexity constitutes an ongoing task for medical societies, politics, and practice. NIPTs analyse the chromosomes of the fetus from a small blood sample. Initially, NIPTs were targeted at detecting trisomy 21 (Down syndrome): meanwhile there are sequencing techniques capable of analysing the entire genome of the unborn child. These yield findings of unclear relevance for the child’s future life, resulting in new responsibility structures and dilemmas for the parents-to-be.The industry’s marketing strategies overemphasize the benefits of the tests while disregarding their consequences. This paper chooses the opposite path: starting with the underestimated consequences, it focuses on adverse developments and downsides. Disparities, paradoxes, and risks associated with NIPTs are illustrated, ethical conflicts described. Indications that new technologies developed to solve problems create new ones are examined. In the sense of critical thinking, seemingly robust knowledge is scrutinized for uncertainties and ambiguities. It analyses how the interplay between genetic knowledge and social discourse results in new dimensions of responsibility not only for parents-to-be, but also for decision-makers, authorities, and professional societies, illustrated by a review of different national policies and implementation programmes. As shown by the new NIPT policy in Norway, the consequences can be startling. Finally, a lawsuit in the United States illustrates how an agency can risk forfeiting its legitimation in connection with the inaccuracy of NIPTs.

Anders Behring Breivik. A case study of a far-right terrorist – a lone wolf (Part II)

In the second part of the article on the case of Anders Behring Breivik, the author answers the questions of whether the attack could have been prevented and what impact it had on public sentiment, the nature of the changes to internal security policy in Norway and the performance of the country’s security services. In addition, he analyses Breivik’s actions in terms of whether he meets the criteria of a lone wolf terrorist, as well as describing terrorist attacks prepared or carried out by his imitators.

Scandinavian experiments in democratic education

This article is the first of four articles exploring democratic schools co-founded by teenage students in Norway and Sweden. Our larger project explores the relationship between democracy in education and educational dialogism. Both democracy in education and educational dialogism are partially rooted in the idea that education should be a personal meaning-making practice where the participants can create and organize their lives in ways that make sense to them and explore their interests, values, and desires. We describe the processes of founding two schools – one in Oslo, Norway, and the other in Gothenburg, Sweden – in which students practiced the right to democratic governance. We describe the process of the founding of these schools against the background of the students’ movements in the late 1960s and the 1970s and the social and political conditions in Norway and Sweden at that time. We explore the students’ perspectives on the possibility, desirability, and legitimacy of the students’ voices in ethical-ontological dialogues in which the participants jointly examine their relationships with the world, with others, and with themselves. Further, we explore the forms of democratic school governance that Norwegian and Swedish students created and identified tensions that appeared between the legitimacy of individual students’ rights to ownership of their learning, teachers’ ownership of teaching, and the conventional normative educational policies in Norway and Sweden.

Implementation and spillovers of local non-pharmaceutical interventions.

In this paper, we analyze economic costs and consequences of local non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) aimed at containing the Covid-19 pandemic. Using comprehensive data on municipal and regional policies in Norway, we implement a difference-in-differences framework identifying impacts of local NPIs from discontinuous differential shifts in outcomes following the implementation of new policies. In treated municipalities, local NPIs lead to persistent reductions in mobility, persistent increases in unemployment, and transient reductions in consumer spending. Analyses of spatial spillovers show that the implementation of local NPIs increases retail mobility in untreated neighboring municipalities. Overall, our findings suggest that local NPIs have economic consequences for local economies and induce residents to shift their consumption of goods and services to neighboring municipalities.

Место климатической безопасности в стратегическом планировании: кейс России и Норвегии

Climate change is one of the most pressing issues on the world political agenda, with the largest economies setting carbon neutrality targets for 2050–2070. States’ positions in the world climate politics are largely determined by their ‘environmental power’, which has ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ aspects reflected in either promoting or intentionally decelerating the pace of climate change mitigation policies worldwide. In the literature, a widely acknowledged opinion can be found that the states which traditionally specialize in fossil fuels exports, having ‘negative environmental power’, are prone to adopt less ambitious climate policies than the energy-importing ones. This can be disproven by a number of empirical cases, one of which is that of Russia and Norway. We hypothesize that the key factor which influences the states’ climate policy ambition is the level of climate change securitization and the place which climate change occupies within the hierarchy of threats of the national security system. Having conducted quantitative content analysis of 726 strategic, doctrinal and conceptual documents and plans on the subject of security-related words, we have found that Russian and Norwegian hierarchies of threats coincide in all aspects but climate which is more securitized than foreign policy in Norway. Moreover, almost all analyzed spheres except for the military, law, state governance and foreign policy are more highly securitized in Norway. We further constructed a graph representing the dynamics of climate change securitization in climate-related documents which indicates that securitization fell during major political and economic events and crises and rose in the times of significant developments on the world climate agenda. We conclude that the subjective assessment of climate-related challenges and threats is one of the key factors that determine states’ climate policy ambition. However, this assessment is directly affected by objective factors which define the place climate change will occupy within the hierarchy of threats of the national security system. In the case of Russia and Norway, the principal of such factors is the respective states’ position within the structure of international relations.

Future wood demands and ecosystem services trade-offs: A policy analysis in Norway

To mitigate climate change, several European countries have launched policies to promote the development of a renewable resource-based bioeconomy. These bioeconomy strategies plan to use renewable biological resources, which will increase timber and biomass demands and will potentially conflict with multiple other ecosystem services provided by forests. In addition, these forest ecosystem services (FES) are also influenced by other, different, policy strategies, causing a potential mismatch in proposed management solutions for achieving the different policy goals. We evaluated how Norwegian forests can meet the projected wood and biomass demands from the international market for achieving mitigation targets and at the same time meet nationally determined targets for other FES. Using data from the Norwegian national forest inventory (NFI) we simulated the development of Norwegian forests under different management regimes and defined different forest policy scenarios, according to the most relevant forest policies in Norway: national forest policy (NFS), biodiversity policy (BIOS), and bioeconomy policy (BIES). Finally, through multi-objective optimization, we identified the combination of management regimes matching best with each policy scenario. The results for all scenarios indicated that Norway will be able to satisfy wood demands of up to 17 million m3 in 2093. However, the policy objectives for FES under each scenario caused substantial differences in terms of the management regimes selected. We observed that BIES and NFS resulted in very similar forest management programs in Norway, with a dominance of extensive management regimes. In BIOS there was an increase of set aside areas and continuous cover forestry, which made it more compatible with biodiversity indicators. We also found multiple synergies and trade-offs between the FES, likely influenced by the definition of the policy targets at the national scale.

Unequal Representation of Women and Youth on Climate Policy Issues

ABSTRACT Women and youth support climate policies to a larger extent than their counterparts, and they are underrepresented in formal politics. This paper explores whether descriptively underrepresented groups also are substantively underrepresented on climate issues. I study issue congruence between the public and elected representatives on climate policies in Norway and find high levels of overall congruence. However, representatives are less congruent with women and youth than they are with men and older age groups, linking descriptive and substantive representation.