21 Norway Government Facts: Parliamentary System & Much More!

Located in the Arctic circle, Norway is a small Scandinavian country in Europe consisting of mesmerizing scenic beauty and many other things that fascinate tourists.

A place covered with glaciers, mountain ranges, North Cape, infamous aurora, Faroe Islands, and Jan Mayen, as well as several other things that attract people from all over the world. Other things that also can interest people might include learning about geographical facts or maybe politics to know how this peaceful small country is run.

Norway is ruled by a parliamentary democracy system, a Unitary state, and a constitutional monarchy. It is governed by a prime minister, a cabinet, and a 169-seat parliament elected every four years.

Oslo, the capital of Norway, is a city with green spaces and museums and mainly where every important government decision regarding Norwegian politics occurs.

The government, including the Council of State and the Prime Minister, is nominally approved by the monarch King Harald V along with the approval of the country's legislature.

Although the country's legislative power is in a bit higher position than the executive power, and democracy plays a dominant role, it gets to enjoy both the worlds of democracy and dictatorship. Norwegian parliament and government went under several changes and further formed to become the shape it is now.

If you like to read more about different countries' political backgrounds and governmental facts, do give Afghanistan government facts and Denmark government facts a read.

Name Of Government Bodies

The government of Norway is state-controlled by several organizations that act independently to carry out the policies. On the other hand, government ministers have no control over policymaking decisions. As a matter of fact, they are kept out of reach from day-to-day operations.

But they are subject to decisions made by the Norwegian government. Despite that, the state enterprises are offered to work regarding government-related issues. Such includes:

Ministry of Agriculture watches all aspects of food safety such as trade and agriculture and manages the state-owned forests and natural properties.

Ministry of Children and Families is responsible for family affairs and services for children and other religious and consumer affairs.

Ministry of Culture and Church Affairs, formerly known as the Ministry of Cultural and Scientific Affairs, was established to take care of the cultural affairs of Norway.

The Ministry of Defence is in charge of the emergence and implementation of defense policies and security of the nation and the control of the subordinate agencies' activities.

As the name itself suggests, the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research is responsible for education, research, and other related affairs.

Ministry of Climate and Environment is the Norwegian ministry that carries out responsibilities regarding climate, including climate change and other environmental policies. The department reports to the Legislature.

Ministry of Finance takes care of the finance department, which includes budgets, high taxes, and other taxations and economic policies of Norway.

Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs deals with fishery agriculture seafood industry, coastal climate, sea level, coastal pollution incidents, offshore oil, and more.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the Norwegian foreign ministry. It was established on the same day when the Parliament of Norway dissolved the personal union of Sweden.

Ministry of Government Administration, Reform, and Church Affairs, which was discontinued in 2014, was established for reform work, information technology, competition policy, and the primary responsibility for government employees and organization.

Ministry of Health and Care Services is the ministry that takes control of the matters regarding health policy citizens' health, health care services, and health legislation. It is given the responsibility of the health care services of the Norwegian people.

Ministry of Justice and Public Security is responsible for justice, the police, and domestic intelligence. The primary purpose is to provide the maintenance and development of the basic rule of law.

Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development is responsible for the housing and building, regional and rural policy, the conduct of elections, and more.

Ministry of Petroleum and Energy is in charge of natural energy, including petroleum and natural gas production North Atlantic Sea.

The Ministry of Labour is known for taking care of affairs related to pensions, welfare, social security, immigration, asylum, integration, and many other related affairs.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry is in charge of business, trade, and industry which was merged with the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Fisheries.

The Ministry of Transport was established for transportation and communication issues in Norway.

Other than these ministries, several other ministries form government bodies in Norway. Some of the important government buildings of Norway are Oslo City Hall, Samediggi, Rose Maiden Molde Town Hall, and Kristiansand City Hall.

Election Procedure

Norway's legislature gets elected at the national level. In total, 169 legislature seats are elected for four years by a form of proportional representation in multi-seat constituencies.

There are types of party systems such as single-party systems or double-party systems. But the Norway government has a system with multi political parties with countless parties.

This results in no political parties having the upper hand and gaining a majority of the legislative 169 seats. Hence none of them gains power alone and has to perform together to create the government.

Norway is a hereditary constitutional monarchy. The Norwegian government includes the prime minister and Council of State, which the monarch elects with the approval of the country's legislature.

The Storting functioned as a bicameral body that had two chambers, despite mostly the matters being conveyed to one of the chambers. Only during the voting on laws, the storting gets divided into two houses.

In Norwegian, elections are held every second year. But what makes it so unique is that it alters between elections of Parliament and local elections, technically giving each one a four-year gap.

The eligibility of voting is similar to the rest of the world at the age of 18, and one is given access to voting. But only the citizens of Norway are eligible to vote in the parliamentary elections.

In contrast, people of different countries who have been living in Norway for three consecutive years can vote in the local elections.

The last Norway election, the Parliamentary election, was held on 13 September 2021. The current government of Norway consists of King Harald V as the monarch.

Some known parties of Norway include the Conservative party based in Oslo, the major leading party until October 2021, and the Labour party is a social-democratic political party. The Progress Party is a right-wing party also founded in Oslo. The current leader of Norway is Jonas Gahr Støre from the Labour party.

The Legal Structure Of Government

The history of Norway sets back to the inhabitants of great inland ice sheets moved to the Northern parts of the place, which is now known as Norway. Eventually, the agricultural settlements started moving towards the southern regions as well.

The Norwegians later started expanding and exploring across the British Isles and, even after that, Iceland and Greenland. The country further entered the Kalmar Union with Denmark and Sweden.

When the latter left, Norway became the junior partner in Denmark-Norway relations. Norway then surrendered to the king of Sweden and formed co-operation and national unity after losing the Napoleonic War with Denmark. Then Norway declared its own independence, adopted a constitution, and became its own country.

Further, after a small war with Sweden, both the countries accepted personal union with each other while concluding it with the Convention of Moss. The two countries thus became separate countries.

The Norwegian legal structure of Government has been divided into the parliamentary system and the unitary constitutional monarchy. The Monarchy is kept ornamentally, although they are given the power to elect the prime minister and council.

The Norwegian government is known to be one of the unique and most developed democracies in the world, with a unitary constitutional monarchy and parliamentary government. King or the Monarch of Norway as the head of the State and Prime Minister as the parliamentary government.

Parliament has the upper hand in making the laws in Norway and is created and amended by it. These laws are managed by the supreme court, which is the highest in the Courts of Justice of Norway.

The courts' have been given the power to enforce the constitution and the Norwegian judicial system and participate in the implementation of the legislature.

International Stand Of Government

Internationally, Norway's government is known and ranked as the World's Best Democracy for the sixth year. The success of Norway's government is the relation between the lawmaker and the country's citizens.

It is one of the countries that is not a member of the European Union but is associated with it through its membership.

The country functions as social democracy, and the small peaceful country remain one of the most culturally and ethnically diverse nations. As already have been established Norway government is more parliamentary and less presidential.

The best part of this beautiful place is the fact there isn't much difference between the poorest and wealthiest, and people have been allowed time for family and utilize less time for work.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created many interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Norway government facts, then why not take a look at Chilean government facts or Australian Government Facts.