ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an institutional context for interpreting Norway's rapid economic catch-up prior to World War I. It traces Norway's political history over a longer period in order to illustrate the nature of some foreign ties. Norwegian peasants combined farming, fishing, hunting and foresting to eke out a meager living in the shadows of her mountainous fjords. Norway was proclaimed a kingdom in its own right; it was formally unified with Sweden. In practice, Norwegians secured a remarkable degree of political autonomy: they were given control over taxation, legislation, expenditures—even the right to raise a national defense force. Throughout the period of Swedish tutelage, Norway continued to refine its system of democratic representation. Most significantly, Norway witnessed a social, cultural and religious mobilization that activated the peasantry and propelled it onto the political landscape. By the 1870s, the Norwegian public school system underwent a number of improvements under the leadership of headmaster and parliamentarian, Johannes Steen.
