ABSTRACT
Until the 1990s violence and violent conflict was a feature characterizing most secessions and attempts at secession. Until then only two secessions in the twentieth century those of Norway and of Iceland were not preceded by violent conflict among the parties involved. The most important structural factor for Norway's secession is the country's separate constitutional status prior to the secession. Under a Danish regent, the first Norwegian Constituent Assembly enacted Norway's own constitution at Eidsvoll. The parliamentary and legislative autonomy provided a framework for a separate political life in Norway. The differences in language and culture and in the social composition and stratification of society further contributed to the separation of the political life of the national groups. The dissemination of the Norwegian national idea provided the new elites in power with the basis for their belief that the Norwegian nation was in every sense equal and, in some sense, also superior to the Swedish one.
