Norway had undoubtedly one of the best welfare systems in the world, making sure that people who are sick and unable to work, or who are unemployed for whatever reason are not left out in the cold, but are given support so that they are able to live with dignity. Norwegian values are rooted as in Sweden in egalitarian ideals. At the beginning of the 20th century, they began enacting fairly radical welfare laws, culminating in the post-war years sweeping reforms that turned Norway into the progressive welfare state it is today. The welfare state is still the ideal for most Norwegian, not least because it seems to be doing quite well.
Well, sounds interesting? Let’s come back to the beginning of the process of building welfare. Norway declared its independence in 1905 when the union with Sweden was dissolved. The period from 1905 to 1914 was characterized by rapid economic expansion in Norway. The development of the merchant fleet, which begun in previous century, continued, and at the outbreak of World War I Norway’s merchant navy was the fourth largest in the world. From about beginning of the 20th century Norway’s immense resources of waterpower provided a base for great industrial expansion. By 1906 three-fourth of all developed waterpower in Norway was owned by foreign concerns. Norwegian Labour Party (DNA) pressed for legislation to protect the natural resources of the country. By reforms in 1907 and 1913 the vote was extended to women. Once consequence of industrialization and the introduction of universal suffrage was the growing influence of the DNA. A number of social reforms were enacted: a factory act, which included protection for women and children, accident insurance for seafaring men, health insurance, a 10-hour working (in 1915) and a 48 workweek (in 1919). A 40-hour workweek was introduced in 1977.
With the outbreak of war in 1914, Norway, like Sweden and Denmark, issued a declaration of neutrality, but it was badly hurt by the war at sea by about half of Norwegian merchant shipping being lost. After the war the main aim during the 1920s was to guide the currency (the krone) back to its former value. Norway received only an insignificant share in improved world market conditions, and by 1927 the unemployment figures were as high as one-fifth of the workforce. The Great Depression in the early 1930s increased unemployment still further, and by 1933 at least one-third of the workforce, including many civil servants, was unemployed. Despite economic difficulties, the high rate of unemployment, and the many labour conflicts, the interwar years were a period of vigorous expansion, and the country’s industrial production was increased by 75% during the years 1913-38. With the second outbreak of hostilities in 1929, Norway again declared itself neutral. On April 9, 1940,German troops invaded the country and quickly occupied Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim and Narvik, despite being supported by Polish soldiers. Vidkun Quisling, a traitor and leader of the small Norwegian National Socialist party, proclaimed a “national government”, which aroused such strong resistance of Norwegians.
After World War II the liberation of Norway was followed by trials of collaborators, 25 Norwegians, including Quisling were sentenced to death and executed, and some 19 000 received prison sentenced. By a strict policy that gave priority to the reconstruction of productive capacity in preference to consumer goods, Norway quickly succeeded in repairing the ravages left by the war. By 1949 the merchant fleet had attained its pre-war size, and the figures for both industrial production and housing were greater than in the 1930s. Until the 1980s Norway had full or nearly full employment and swift rising standard of living.
Since the 1970s a central issue in Norway has been the exploitation of the rich natural gas and petroleum deposits in the Norwegian part of the North Sea. As the Norwegian petroleum industry grew in importance, the country became increasingly affected by fluctuations in the world petroleum market, but in the late 20th and early 21st centuries oil revenues played the dominant role in fueling a prosperous Norwegian economy and providing Norwegians with one of the world’s highest per capita incomes. The government, prudently preparing for a time when petroleum profits might not be so lucrative, began reinvesting those profits in the Government Pension Fund that I have already described in recent post. The Norwegians rejected membership of the Europan Economic Community in 1972, and of the European Union in1994,despite being urged by their governments to vote “yes”. Norway’ annual oil revenue amounts to around $40bn and more than half of its exports come from this sector. To counter inflation, there is cross-party agreement to restrict spending of oil revenue. Even as much of the rest of the world struggled in the wake of the international financial crisis that began in 2008, Norway continued to prosper, though the international holdings of the Government Pension Fund weakened. In recent decades, Norway has forged a stronger role for itself in international politics. It has mediated between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation, and from 2000 to 2009 was the chief mediator in the conflict between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil separatists.
The egalitarian values which are at the root of the welfare state also manifest themselves throughout Norwegian society in many ways e.g. in the field of gender equality. Because of this, and active government support of gender equality, women have been steadily climbing in standing over the past fifty years. Still, the goal of total equality remains a long way off: while forty percent of representatives on Parliament are female, only one in every ten company directors are women. But, on the other hand, gender equality changed the Norwegian male’s role as a father. Norway has a paternity leave quota, so that fathers can also take extended time off to be with their children. This has helped make the mixing of careers and family a lot easier. In Norway, it is more common for mothers of young children to be employed than in many Western European countries. With the large amount of young mothers in the workplace, it becomes necessary to deal with the issues of maternity leave. The government has therefore created a system meant to care for the families as they care for a new baby. Parents are allowed to choice of either taking 43 weeks off between themselves with full wage compensation, or 53 weeks off with 80% compensation. If they wish, the mother may take up to 12 weeks of their parental leave prior to the birth, so they can prepare for the baby or give themselves rest. 9 weeks of leave must be used by the mother, and 5 weeks by the father. The remaining weeks can be divided between the parents as they wish. In addition, in the case that a child must stay home sick from school when they reach school age, the state grants each parent 10 days of leave per year to spend taking care of the child.
There is a special relationship between Norway and Sweden. Sweet brothers or rather arch enemies? When I spoke to my Norwegian they answered me very similarly. They mentioned about Union with Sweden from 1814 to 1905 in which Sweden treated Norway as its tributary and during this time there was the strongest Norwegian national movement. What is holy truth, Swedes are portrayed as the dumb ones, especially in jokes. I know one blunt joke:
Swedes are on holiday with a Norwegian guy who for some reason went missing. In the police office the two Swedes are asked to describe the Norwegian. The two Swedes think long and hard, then one of them says:
- "yeah I know - he's got two holes in his ass!"
The policeman, who thinks that was a somewhat unusual description ask:
- "and how do you know that then?!"
- "Because everytime we go somewhere, people are saying: There's that Norwegian with the two assholes!"
That’s obviously the Swedish stereotype in Norway. But I wonder to know why Norwegian make Swedes idiots, hence Danes should be ones to make out to be the stupid ones. As fa as I know period under Danish yoke was the worst for Norway, even called ‘400-Year Night’. Danes are not portrayed as dumb, but still not quite up to Norwegian intellectual level. Yes, Norwegians think they are the best nation on over the world. I think Swedes presence in Norwegian jokes is because of jealousy. Sweden in twice the size Norway, it was regional superpower in Vasa-era (1521-1654) and more successful in their industry e.g. IKEA, Saab, Ericsson, Scania and recently Volvo (now is Chinese, sic!). Let’s look inside the Swedish city, which is a home of 22% of Sweden’s population, I mean Stockholm!
This city is another Scandinavian spirit unveiling. I could have touched the difference on every corner of the street in Stockholm. First of all, city is built on 14 islands (Stockholm archipelago where Lake Mälaren meets the Baltic Sea) connected by 57 bridges and on the land there are steep rocky hills just next to the beautiful, full of ships coasts. Second, Swedes are more serious, elegant and polite than Norwegians. Third, rules. In Sweden you are obliged to restrict rules even more. There is no crazy and dangerous customs to cross the street even if it is red light! You can’t buy a normal 5% alcohol beer in shop, only light 3,5%, so if you want to go drink some normal alcohol you have to be over 21 and visit rare Systembolaget in restricted hours. However, Sweden is the next vodka-drinking country and even much drinking. Stockholm is supposed to be safety city, citizens really respect police and I haven’t seen druggies and dealers on the street as I used to do in Oslo. Still, there are many immigrants, the majority of them are Croats, Albanians, Arabic, Iraqi, Assyrians, Turks, Persians, Indians, Kurdians, Africans and of course Polish (as everywhere). One of the reason such huge diversity of immigrants in this country is fact, that Sweden has a history of providing refuge to asylum seekers.
Moving back to Stockholm, over 30% of the city area is made up of waterways and another 30% is made up of parks and green spaces; in 2009, Stockholm was awarded title of first European Green Capital by the European Commission. They landscape is forcing joggers to make use of these breathtaking areas. If you ask me what was the most impressing place in Stockholm it will take much time to mentions many places. The top of the list is absolutely the Old Town (Gamla Stan) with mysterious and narrow streets, and colorful walls of old tenement houses and enormous Royal Palace. Second place is reserved for Vasa Museum. Vasa as I have been taught is not only a crunchy bread or royal Swedish dynasty, but also the only preserved seventeenth-century warship in the world! The story of this ship is ridiculous, because this was the biggest ship in the world during these times (69 meter-long) and real proud of Sweden, but it sank on its maiden voyage in the middle of Stockholm in 1628. What a pity! But for Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania this history forecast a mercy during the ‘Swedish flood’ (1655-1660), because Swedish fleet was weaken by one really huge warship. So, City Hall, with its spire featuring the golden Three Crowns, is one of the most famous silhouettes in Stockholm. Every year the great Nobel banquet is also held there and this summer there will a royal wedding, Crown Princess Victoria and Mr. Daniel Westling are getting married. What is interesting, Westling is a personal trainer of the Princess and gym owner, he runs a company called Balance Training, which has three gyms in central Stockholm. Lucky guy! What is more in Stockholm that it is worth to take a boat sightseeing, visit rich museums (I recommend Nobel Museum in Gamla Stan) and taste an unique night life in one of crowded street in the city centre.
To sum up, even though Norwegians make all kind of joke about Swedes, the relationship between two nations is harmonious and friendly, greatly helped by cultural and linguistic similarities. Below my favourite Swedish commercial ;)
To begin with, the city was founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway. The medieval town was located below the Ekeberg hills and the most likely interpretations of the name Oslo would be either ‘the meadow beneath the ridge’ or ‘the meadow of the gods’. Håkon V was the first king to reside in the city permanently between 1299 and 1319 and he started the construction of the Akerhus Fortress. Then the population of Oslo was about 3000 inhabitants. One, ca easily be confused by capital’s different names through the years. Oslo was shattered several times by fires and after a dramatic fire in 1624, the Danish King Christian IV (because of Danish-Norway Union) decided to rebuild town and named it Christiania. But the town got growth after 1814. In this year as a consequence of the Napoleonic Wars, Denmark had to cede the territory of Norway to the Swedish King Karl Johan. In this year Norway got its own constitution on 17 May and Christiania got its official status as the capital of Norway. King Karl Johan initiated the building of the Royal Palace and the Parliament building as well as the University, National Theatre and the Stock Exchange. The industrial era started along the river Akerselva around 1850. Christiana overtook Bergen and became the most popular city and in 1878 it was renamed Kristiana. In the years between 1850 and 1900 the population of Kristiania increased from about 30 000 to 230 000 mainly due to an influx of workers from rural areas. At the beginning of XXth century the rural municipality was merged and city enlarged. Oslo, the original name, was re-established in 1925 and the population from this time was doubled up to 590 000 in 2010. Nowadays, Oslo as a capital of Norway is its cultural, scientific, economic and governmental centre as well as is a hub of Norwegian trade, banking, industry and shipping. The Oslo metropolitan area’s share of national GDP is 25%. What is not good for exchange students is the fact that in 2009 Oslo gained its status as the world’s most expensive city (sic!). Thus it has one of the highest regional GDP’s in Europe. Oslo contains an important maritime port with nearly 980 companies and 8500 workforces. Furthermore, some of the largest shipping companies, shipbrokers and insurance brokers are based in the city of Oslo. In employment sector, the service industry is dominant in Oslo accounting for more than 59% of jobs. Other employment areas include hotels and catering, trade, banking and insurance. The historical city has gone through big character changes as a result of fires and redevelopment. Most of the original town is lost in spite of some buildings built by Karl Johan and the more than 700-year-old Akerhus Fortress remains an important cultural monument. Here the memories of World War II also come out strongly. Many Norwegian patriot were executed here and after the war Vidkun Quisling – infamous traitor – was executed by firing squad. The term ‘quisling’ has become a synonym in many European languages for traitor. After war the period of construction of modernist concrete and glass low-rises was started. Now these buildings are regarded as embarrassing eyesores.
The variety in Oslo's architectural cityscape does however provide for some striking and often hauntingly beautiful sights. While most of the forests and lakes surrounding Oslo are in private hands, there is great public support for not developing those areas. Parts of Oslo suffer from congestion, yet it is one of the few European capitals where people live with the wilderness literally in their back yard, or with access to a suburban train line that allows the city's many hikers and cross-country skiers to simply step off the train and start walking or skiing. Vigelandsparken is one of Norway's most visited attractions with more than 1 million visitors every year. The unique sculpture park is the life work of the sculptor Gustav Vigeland (1869-1943) with more than 200 sculptures in bronze, granite and cast iron. Vigeland was also responsible for the design and architectural outline of the park. A monumental artistic creation with a human message that is well worth seeing. Oslo has a large number of parks and green areas within the city core, as well as outside it. This is the biggest and most reputed park in Norway. Bygdøy is a huge and green area, famous also as "Museum Peninsula" of Oslo. The beautiful location, surrounded by the sea, makes it the most expensive Norwegian district next to Aker Brygge – a long commercial centre along the seaside. Oslo has a modern Oprahouse - Norway's biggest culture and stage institution. Oslo's new Opera House opened on 12 April 2008 and is now the home of the Norwegian Opera and Ballet. The spectacular building has a fabulous location by the seaside and was designed by renowned Norwegian architecture firm Snøhetta. I watched a German play – ‘Ariadne auf Naxos’ and I realized that it was the last time went to see a random play. It was so boooring that I have almost fallen asleep! Especially when they sang in German and all my attention was focused on reading the English subtitles.
A glimpse of Oslo’s attractions you can watch in the short movie below. My favourite places are BI Campus, Domus Athletica Swimming pool, Aker Brygge and Karl Johan Gate where I’m spending the most of my time. Many of my friends as well as my lovely fiance expoited the opportunity and visited me in Oslo, for all of them thank you very much! We spent a gorgeous time together here.
Well, sounds interesting? Let’s come back to the beginning of the process of building welfare. Norway declared its independence in 1905 when the union with Sweden was dissolved. The period from 1905 to 1914 was characterized by rapid economic expansion in Norway. The development of the merchant fleet, which begun in previous century, continued, and at the outbreak of World War I Norway’s merchant navy was the fourth largest in the world. From about beginning of the 20th century Norway’s immense resources of waterpower provided a base for great industrial expansion. By 1906 three-fourth of all developed waterpower in Norway was owned by foreign concerns. Norwegian Labour Party (DNA) pressed for legislation to protect the natural resources of the country. By reforms in 1907 and 1913 the vote was extended to women. Once consequence of industrialization and the introduction of universal suffrage was the growing influence of the DNA. A number of social reforms were enacted: a factory act, which included protection for women and children, accident insurance for seafaring men, health insurance, a 10-hour working (in 1915) and a 48 workweek (in 1919). A 40-hour workweek was introduced in 1977. 
