Humanities Nordic Model test Flashcards
What is a party program?
Party Programs are basically detailed brochures including the viewpoint/standpoint of the party regarding certain themes and issues.
The party program is the party’s ‘law’ and is adopted by the party’s national assembly before a parliamentary election.
What is a constitution?
It is the highest form of law in the country. The Constitution creates the branches of government and gives them the power to govern.
In terms of the Norwegian constitution the three main principles are:
Soverignity of the people
Separation of powers (judicial (court system)
Legislative (strotinget) and executive branches (government)) and human rights.
What is the parliament?
The Parliament is a national assembly of elected representatives.
What is parliamentarism:
The core of parliamentarism is that the government is based on the Storting, and that the Storting has confidence in the work that the government does.
Some of the key components of parliamentarism include:
The King ceremonial head of state
The people elect the parliament and indirectly the government
Majority, minority and coalition governments
Who can vote in elections for Stortinget?
There are 169 representatives in the Stortinget. These 169 representatives are from the different parties of the government. When they come to the parliament they sit in the sections reserved for their party groups.
These representatives are the people that elect the President of the Storting.
The Storting elections are not for the public.
Who can vote in local elections?
Everyone above the age of 18 and have been living in Norway for 3 years can vote in the local elections.
Have to be a Norwegian resident for at least 3+ years
You have to be above 16-17 to vote.
What is a referendum?
A referendum is a direct and universal vote in which an entire electorate is invited to vote on a particular proposal and can have nationwide or local forms. When Norway was asked to be a part of the EU. Everyone in a country regarding a big decision.
What are the different branches of the Norwegian democracy?
Norway is an indirect democracy (this means the people of the country and local municipalities vote for a representative that represents them in the parliament elections). Where people don’t actually vote.
The different branches of the Norwegian government are: Executive = King, Legislative = Parliament/Storting and the Judicial = supreme court.
What does separation of powers mean?
Legal principle which means that state power is to be distributed among three Independent institutions: one legislative , one executive and one judicial .
If one of them abuses their power we still have the 2 others to lead the country. This leads to less corruption in politics.
How are the Norwegian governments formed?
After a parliamentary election, it is formally the king who chooses who will form the government
The Prime Minister points out who will sit in the government. Each minister is responsible for a subject area, a department.
What is a majority government?
The party or parties that form the government have more than half of the representatives in the Storting.
What is a minority government?
The party or parties that form the government have less than half of the representatives in the Storting.
What is a minority coalition government?
Several parties come together to form a government. It has been like this since 2001.
What are the responsibilities of the Storting?
The Storting passes, amends and repeals (to declare invalid) the Norwegian laws.
Storting approves the state budget every quarter of a year, ie the calculated revenues and expenditures of the state. The state budget thus shows the financial framework for the tasks that the state has in the coming year.
How many representatives sit in the Storting?
The Storing has 169 representatives. These electives are elected every four years.
What are the responsibilities of the government?
Proposes a budget, manages the public sector, enforce the law, and represents Norway
What are the responsibilities of local governments (county)?
The county Municipalities (Viken, Oslo) responsibilities are:
High school County roads District policy instruments Regional planning Operation of some cultural offerings
What are the responsibilities of local governments?
The municipalities (Kongsberg kommune ) responsibilities are:
Kindergartens Child welfare Primary schools Municipal roads Water, sewer, garbage collection Public health service Social assistance
How many municipalities are there in Norway?
356 municipalities in Norway
Socialist Parties:
Sosialistisk Venstrepartiet – The Socialist Left party and Arbeiderpartiet - The Labour Party
Non-Socialist parties:
Miljøpartiet de Grønne – The Green Party Senterpartiet – The Centre Party KrF - The Christian Democratic Party Venstre - The Liberals Høyre - The Conservative Party Fremskrittspartiet - The Progress Party
Rightist Parties:
The parties on the right want lower taxes, and believe that private companies can provide many of the welfare services in a more efficient way than the state. They talk less about social equality, and are more willing to accept economic differences between groups in society. Of the nine parties in the Storting, we like to place the Conservatives (H) and the Progress Party (FrP) on the right.
Leftist Parties:
The parties on the left often want a relatively high level of taxes and fees. In return, the state must provide welfare benefits such as hospitals, education and cultural services. They want to even out economic differences between groups in society, and are willing to tax those with the highest incomes more to achieve this. Of the nine parties in the Storting, we like to place Rødt (R), Sosialistisk Venstreparti (SV) and Arbeiderpartiet (A) on the left.
Sosialistisk Venstrepartiet – The Socialist Left party
SV will build a society based onsocialismin Norway.This means, among other things, that everyone, regardless of income, must have the same access to public services such as education, health services and care.The party wants to replace thecapitalistsystem, where market forces prevail, with a more democratic economic system.SV advocates full equality between the sexes and calls itself “afeministparty
