ABSTRACT
The empirical analysis presented in this article gives little reason for disregarding traditional images of the representatives of the Norwegian Storting as egalitarian minded, party based and district orientated. We found few trustees, but many delegates. There were also more MPs of the partisan and constituency varieties than policy advocates and parliamentary men. The most frequent role in the Norwegian Storting, however, was the ‘no role’ type. Judged on the basis of the history of the Storting as well as the literature describing it, that is more likely to be the truth than an incomprehensible paradox, as the egalitarian nature of the asssembly and the low level of parliamentary institutionalisation is not the best of circumstances for generating firm role models.
