Norway is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary representative democracy. The power in Norway is shared at three different levels – the legislative, the executive and the the judiciary. Executive powers are exercised by the King and the council of ministers led by the prime minister. Legislative powers are exercised by the government and the Storting. The judicial powers are free from legislative and executive powers and are executed by the courts of law.
The people of Norway exercise the legislative power through the Storting (parliament). The Storting consists of 169 members who are elected by the citizens of Norway for a four-year term. The Storting also nominates a president, five vice-presidents and two secretaries.
(Source: Constitution of Norway)
The main political parties in Norway are:
- Labour Party
- Conservative Party
- Progress Party
- Christian Democrats
- Socialist Left
- Centre Party
- Liberals
After the general elections in 2009, the coalition government was made up of the Labour Party, the Centre Party and Socialist Left and was re-elected for a second term. Jens Stoltenberg of the Labour Party is the current Prime Minister of Norway.
(Source: fco.gov.uk)
Judicial system
The judiciary in Norway consists of:
- Supreme Court
- Labour Court of Norway
- National Courts Administration
- Conciliation boards
- Land consolidation courts
- District courts
- Courts of appeal
The Supreme Court forms the highest entity of the judicial system in Norway. It regulates and supervises the functioning of the judicial system in Norway.
(Source: norway.no, Constitution of Norway)
Business and economic freedom
Norway scores 70.3 on the index of economic freedom making it 30th freest economy in 2011.
(Source: Heritage.org)
Corruption perception
Norway ranked 10th position on the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2010. CPI measures the perceived level of public-sector corruption in 180 countries and territories around the world.
(Source: transparency.org)
Freedom of information
Norway’s press media is free from influence from political parties and any government involvement and enjoys considerable freedom. The constitution of Norway protects the right to freedom of expression, right to freedom of the press and the right to information.
The Norway Post, VG, Aftenposten, Dagbladet and Morgenbladet are key newspapers in Norway while Telenor is a chief Nordic broadband, telecoms and satellite TV provider.
Norway is ranked 1st on Press Freedom Index 2010 conducted by rsf.org
(Source:BBC News, rsf.org)