From Corporatism to Lobbyism? — Parliaments,Executives, and Organized Interests in Denmark and Norway

The integration of organized interests into the formation and implementation of public policies is a core institutional trait of the Scandinavian countries. However, significant changes have taken place in the relations between organized interests and public authorities in Denmark and Norway during the last two decades. The use of traditional corporatist structures of interest intermediation has been reduced in favor of a corresponding increase in lobbyism. At the same time a marked increase in the frequency and intensity of contacts between organized interests and parliamentary actors has taken place. The shift in focus mirrors the increasing role played by the two parliaments in public policy formation and a less positive assessment of the outcomes of strongly institutionalized corporatist policy making by administrative decision makers.     

The 2015 Norwegian Local Elections: Support for Governing Radical Right Progress Party Plummets and Great Gains for Greens in ‘Second-Order’ Elections

Two years into the first term of the right wing Conservative/Progress Party coalition government, the 2015 Norwegian local elections displayed many features of a ‘second-order’ election: the governing parties lost considerable support, minor parties did well and voter turnout was low. For the second local elections in a row, political circumstances prevented the far right Progress Party from mobilizing on the anti-immigration issue, adding to the burdens of governing nationally for the first time. The Green Party leveraged its 2013 entry into the national parliament into record support, consolidating the progress made in the 2011 local elections. Although the elections were shaped by national politics, municipal and county variation shows that local political factors did matter.     

„Outstanding universal value“. Die Arbeit an der Universalisierung des Wertvollen im UNESCO-Welterbe

The UNESCO World Heritage List is an international inventory of natural and cultural sites that are, according to the conception of its initiators and administrators, of importance for mankind as a whole. The evaluation of the list can be interpreted as a specific form of the social production of the valuable. Focusing on the cultural sites, the paper argues that the production of World Heritage renders a form of practical universalization of the value of particular goods. It centres on the questions of how a site is produced as culturally valuable, how its value is universalized, and what role is played by the concept of authenticity in the process. Two aspects of the evaluation practice are examined with regards to the production of universalization: working with and working on the assessment criteria. It is shown that universality and particularity are interwoven in this practice.     

国际商事仲裁中的书证出示——评《国际商事仲裁取证规则》相关规定

国际律师协会《国际商事仲裁证据规则》反映了国际商事仲裁证据获取及出示方面的最好实践,可以通过当事人自由约定而适用。该规则第3条规定了三种在程序上应当区别对待的书证,第9条第2-5款规定了针对文件出示请求的异议理由。这些规则包含了书证出示方面充分平衡的规则体系,使仲裁庭可以以公平、可预见以及有效率的方式确定案件事实。     

Organised Interests,Authority Structures and Political Influence: Danish and Norwegian Patient Groups Compared

The article presents a comparative analysis of the strategies applied by Danish and Norwegian patient organisations and organisations for disabled persons in order to promote the interests of their members. Three research questions are addressed: Are Danish and Norwegian patient organisations service organisations operating according to a ‘logic of membership’ or political pressure groups acting according to a ‘logic of influence’? Do patient organisations apply ‘insider’ or ‘outsider’ strategies in their efforts to influence healthcare policies? What impact do different authority structures have on the patient organisations' influencing strategies? The latter question is related to recent reforms in the public healthcare systems of the two countries. The major responsibility for public hospitals now rests with regional authorities in Denmark and central government in Norway. The study is based on a survey among nationwide patient organisations in the two countries and shows that most patient groups are ‘polyvalent’‘venue shoppers’ combining a variety of influencing strategies.     

Norwegian Coalition Governments and the Management of Party Relations*

The aim of this article is to analyse the political leaders efforts to organize and manage relations between relevant party actors in a way that is suitable for the operation and preservation of coalition governments. Five coalition governments serve as illustrative cases showing how these relations have been managed in post-war Norway. The similarities between the different government coalitions arc obvious. There are, however, interesting variations concerning the priority given to coordination and unity versus party differences and profilation.     

Zur Wirksamkeit eines Prozessvergleichs

Mit seinem Beschluss vom 6.7.2006 liefert das OVG Berlin-Brandenburg einen instruktiven Beitrag zur Reichweite beh?rdlicher Selbstbindungen durch einen Prozessvergleich. Werden dadurch Rechte Dritter betroffen oder das gesetzlich vorgesehene Ermessen rechtswidrig eingeschr?nkt, ist ein solcher Vergleich unwirksam.     

The communicative aspect of nonfatal suicidal behavior--are there gender differences?

Data from the Norwegian part of the WHO/EURO Multicenter Study on Suicidal Behavior were used to investigate gender differences in the communicative aspect of nonfatal suicidal behavior by means of analyzing precipitating factors, intentions involved in and effects of the suicidal act within the frame of Qvortrup's interpretation of speech-act theory. Eighty-nine patients (48 women and 41 men) were included in the analyses, virtually no gender differences were found. Thus, in general, the results did not support the view that persons engaging in nonfatal suicidal behavior should receive different treatment or follow-up as a group based on their gender. The results gave some support to Qvortrup's speech-act theory and his four categories of suicidal behavior, emotional toward others, regulative toward others, emotional toward oneself and regulative toward oneself.     

The Norwegian Storting: The Central Assembly of the Periphery*

The overall impression of Norway given by Rokkan and Urwin in their classification of state-building and nation-building processes in western Europe is characterized by the domination of a strong centre over weak peripheries. In a comparative perspective this may be the most conspicuous tendency. The influence of the Norwegian periphery, however, is quite substantial. The aim of this article is to contribute to a more nuanced picture of centreperiphery relations in Norwegian politics. It takes a closer look at the representation of the periphery in the Norwegian parliament, and at the impact of geography on policy-making and other activities of MPs.     

Political pressure and regulatory control

Conclusions of previous regulatory studies addressing the impact of fines on firm's behavior are contradictory. A simple game theoretic model is developed which uses continuous payoff functions to reconcile these contradictory conclusions. The game suggests changing the fine shifts the reaction functions of both the regulatory agency and the firm. The nature of such shifts are partially caused by political pressure different interest groups place on regulatory agencies. Competing goals within the agency also help explain why such shifts occur.