Norway

Kingdom of Norway
Kingdom of Norway Kongeriket Norge (Bokmål); Kongeriket Noreg (Nynorsk)
	Anthem: Ja, vi elsker dette landet; (English: "Yes, we love this country"); Royal anthem: Kongesangen; (English: King's Song)
	Location of the Kingdom of Norway (red)
Capital; and largest city	Oslo
Official languages	Norwegian (Bokmål and Nynorsk)
Ethnic groups	80% Norwegian 20% non-Norwegian (2021); ;
Demonym	Norwegian
Government	Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy
History
Area
Population
GDP (PPP)	2020 estimate
GDP (nominal)	2020 estimate
HDI (2019)	0.957; very high
Currency	Norwegian krone (NOK)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
Date format	dd.mm.yyyy
Drives on the	right
Internet TLD	.nod

Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country in Northern Europe that occupies the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. It is bordered by Sweden, Finland, and Russia. Norway has a very elongated shape; the country's extensive coastline along the North Atlantic Ocean is home to its famous fjords.

The Kingdom of Norway also includes the Arctic island territories of Svalbard and Jan Mayen. Norwegian sovereignty of Svalbard is based upon the Svalbard Treaty, but this does not apply to Jan Mayen. Bouvet Island in the South Atlantic Ocean and claims for Peter I Island and Queen Maud Land in Antarctica are also external dependencies, but these are not part of the Kingdom.

Since World War II Norway has experienced rapid economic growth and is now one of the wealthiest country in the world, with a fully developed welfare system. This economic progress is caused in part by the exploitation of oil and gas reserves off coast since the 1970s.

History

First and Second World Wars

Throughout the First World War, Norway was in theory a neutral country; however, diplomatic pressure from the British government meant that it heavily favored the Allies during the war. During the war, Norway exported fish to both Germany and Britain, until an ultimatum from the British government and anti-German sentiments as a result of German submarines targeting Norwegian merchantmen led to a termination of trade with Germany.

Norway also proclaimed its neutrality during the Second World War, but was invaded by German forces on 9 April 1940. The reason for the invasion was because the British had violated Norwegian neutrality, like the Altmark incident and laid minefields along the Norwegian coast to prevent the German ore transport from Narvik. Although Norway was unprepared for the German invasion, military and naval resistance lasted for two months. Norwegian armed forces in the north launched an offensive against the German forces in the Battles of Narvik, until they were forced to surrender on 10 June after losing British support which had been diverted to France during the German invasion of France.

King Haakon and the Nygaardsvold government left Norway on 7 June and established itself in London. Throughout the war they sent radio speeches and supported clandestine military actions in Norway against the Germans. On the day of the invasion, the leader of the nationalist party Nasjonal Samling, Vidkun Quisling, tried to seize power, but was forced by the Germans to resign because King Haakon wouldn't approve the new national government by him. Power was wielded by the leader of the German occupation authority, Reichskommissar Josef Terboven (de). Quisling, as minister president, later formed a collaborationist government under some German control. Up to 15,000 Norwegians volunteered for combat duty on the Axis side; most were sent to the Eastern front.^[8]

Post-World War II history

Johan Nygaardsvold resigned on 25 June 1945 when King Haakon appointed the social democrat Einar Gerhardsen to head an interim government composed of all political parties.

Gerhardsen was the 22nd prime minister of Norway for three periods, 1945–1951, 1955–1963 and 1963–1965. With totally 17 years in office, he is the longest serving Prime Minister in Norway since the introduction of parliamentarism. From 1945 to 1962, the Norweigan Labour Party held an absolute majority in the parliament.

The wartime alliance with the United Kingdom and the United States was continued in the post-war years. Although pursuing the goal of a socialist economy, the Labour Party distanced itself from the Communists, especially after the Communists' seizure of power in Czechoslovakia in 1948, and strengthened its foreign policy and defence policy ties with the US. Norway received Marshall Plan aid from the United States starting in 1947, joined the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) one year later, and became a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949.

The first oil was discovered at the small Balder field in 1967, but production only began in 1999. In 1969, the Phillips Petroleum Company discovered petroleum resources at the Ekofisk field west of Norway. In 1973, the Norwegian government founded the State oil company, Statoil. Oil production did not provide net income until the early 1980s because of the large capital investment that was required to establish the country's petroleum industry.

Norway was a founding member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). Norway was twice invited to join the European Union, but ultimately declined to join after referendums that failed by narrow margins in 1972 and 1994.

In 1981, a Conservative Party government led by Kåre Willoch replaced the Labour Party with a policy of stimulating the stagflated economy with tax cuts, economic liberalisation, deregulation of markets, and measures to curb record-high inflation (13.6% in 1981).

Norway's first female prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland of the Labour Party continued many of the reforms of her Conservative predecessor, while backing traditional Labour concerns such as social security, higher taxes and feminism. By the late 1990s, Norway had paid off its foreign debt and had started accumulating a sovereign wealth fund.

Immigration

Jews

In 1687, Christian V rescinded all Jewish privileges, specifically banning Jews from Norway, except with a special dispensation. Jews found in the kingdom were jailed and expelled.

In 1814, when Norway gained independence from Denmark, the general ban against Jews entering the country was "continued" in the new Norwegian Constitution (Jødeparagrafen). After tireless efforts by the poet Henrik Wergeland, politician Peder Jensen Fauchald, school principal Hans Holmboe and others, in 1851 the Norwegian parliament (Stortinget) lifted the ban against Jews. The first Jewish community in Norway was established in Oslo in 1892.

Jødeparagrafen

Jødeparagrafen (English: The Jew clause) is in the vernacular name of the second paragraph of the Constitution of Norway from 1814 to 1851. The clause, in its original form, banned Jews from entering Norway, and also forbade Jesuits and monastic orders.

The clause roughly translates as:

§ 2. The evangelical-Lutheran religion remains the State's public religion. Those inhabitants who profess to it, are obliged to raise their children in the same. Jesuits and monastic orders may not be tolerated. Jews remain excluded from admission to the kingdom.

Christian Magnus Falsen, Georg Sverdrup and Nicolai Wergeland were the central delegates behind the wording of the section's final paragraph.

In 1942, during the German occupation of Norway the Minister President Vidkun Quisling reinstated the paragraph into the constitution, but this change was reverted after the war.

Mass Immigration

During the 1960s, there was demand of labor within the secondary labor market so the political life in Norway opened up for non-european immigration. This group was mainly dominated by men from Pakistan and Turkey.

Since the 1980s, Norway has had large-scale immigration from the Middle East, Africa and Asia. A report released by the (Oslo) police in 2011 states that all assault rapes during last year were committed by men with a non-Western origin.^[9]^[10]^[11] In 2014 Mohammed became the most common men's name in Oslo.^[12]

The Norweigan people are declining in population. The population in growth in Norway is purely due to mass immigration.^[13] In the late 1970s, Norwegians made up 98 percent of the population. It is estimated that Norwegians will be a minority in the capital Oslo around 2030.^[14]^[15]