ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with a discussion of the political cleavages that have generated and sustained the party system in Norway, and presents the individual political parties. It looks at the central issue of Norway’s position in European co-operation followed by a short exposure of the formal and informal international contacts of the major parties. The chapter deals with some reflections on the role of elites in Norwegian politics in general. Since the introduction of parliamentarianism in 1884 political parties have been the central actors in Norwegian politics: parties have organized political activists and supporters through formal membership organizations. Parties reflect different periods of historical development; they are organizational sediments of past struggles. Some party leaders explicitly argue that an increased contact with the institutions and parties in the European Union is necessary to compensate for the lack of Norwegian membership.
