ABSTRACT
In their classic analysis of cleavage structure, party systems and voter alignments, Lipset and Rokkan suggest that the crucial cleavages and their political expressions can be ordered within a two-dimensional space constituted by a territorial dimension, or centre-periphery axis, and a functional dimension, or cross-local axis.1 This chapter concentrates on the first of these two dimensions. Thus, its main focus is the relationship between centre and periphery in Norwegian politics.
