Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Towards a Theory of Divergent Development
- 3 Cousins Divided? Development in and of Political Institutions in Scotland and Norway since 1814
- 4 Agrarian Change in Scotland and Norway: Agricultural Production, Structures, Politics and Policies since 1800
- 5 The Evolution of Local Government and Governance in Scotland and Norway
- 6 The Development of Industry and North Sea Oil in Scotland and Norway
- 7 Reflections on the Making of Norway
- 8 Money and Banking in Scotland and Norway
- 9 Religion in Scotland and Norway
- 10 The Nordic Welfare Model in Norway and Scotland
- 11 Access, Nature, Culture and the Great Outdoors – Norway and Scotland
- 12 Education in Norway and Scotland: Developing and Re-forming the Systems
- 13 Norway and the United Kingdom/Scotland after the Second World War
- 14 Conclusions
- The Contributors
- Bibliography
- Index
1 - Introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2016
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Towards a Theory of Divergent Development
- 3 Cousins Divided? Development in and of Political Institutions in Scotland and Norway since 1814
- 4 Agrarian Change in Scotland and Norway: Agricultural Production, Structures, Politics and Policies since 1800
- 5 The Evolution of Local Government and Governance in Scotland and Norway
- 6 The Development of Industry and North Sea Oil in Scotland and Norway
- 7 Reflections on the Making of Norway
- 8 Money and Banking in Scotland and Norway
- 9 Religion in Scotland and Norway
- 10 The Nordic Welfare Model in Norway and Scotland
- 11 Access, Nature, Culture and the Great Outdoors – Norway and Scotland
- 12 Education in Norway and Scotland: Developing and Re-forming the Systems
- 13 Norway and the United Kingdom/Scotland after the Second World War
- 14 Conclusions
- The Contributors
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Hear me, Despot, I will be your bane, as long as I last. For Norway's law, in the peasant's hand shall smash your slaves’ bonds.
Henrik Wergeland – The Norwegian's Catechism, 1832INTRODUCTION
This book is a comparative study of the economic, social and political development of Norway and Scotland since about 1800. Our main question is about how the development of these two small countries at the north of Europe, whose histories were intertwined from about the year ad 795 when Norse raiders sacked Iona Monastery, and whose economic, social, cultural and political structures had certain similarities in the early and late medieval periods, nevertheless diverged sharply in economic, social, political and other ways from the eighteenth century on. In seeking to answer that question, we inevitably move closer towards an understanding of the political, social and economic conditions that make an ‘ alternative’ development possible. In this way we hope to inform debates about the future of Scotland after the referendum in Autumn 2014, as well as contribute to debates about present and future policy choices in Norway.
In this referendum, the Scottish electorate faced a choice of whether or not to vote for independence from the rest of the UK. In the political developments of the recent past that have led to this situation, there has been growing Scottish interest in Norway and the wider Nordic region, exemplified by Lesley Riddoch's lively ‘Nordic Horizons’ group. This interest has focused on issues such as education, land ownership, urban transport, green cities, elderly care, NATO, the management of North Sea oil and gas, local government, the welfare state and Nordic cooperation. The general tenor of the Nordic Horizon debates, as well as the White Paper on Scottish Independence produced by the Scottish Government in the Autumn of 2013, is that Norwegian – and wider Nordic – policies might offer some interesting ideas for Scotland should it become a nation-state again. Beyond that, some form of future alliance with the structures of Nordic and wider Scandinavian cooperation, in particular the Nordic Council of Ministers, is also under discussion. These issues, and in particular the perceptions around them, are further discussed by Hilson and Newby in Chapter 10.
- Type
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- Information
- Northern NeighboursScotland and Norway since 1800, pp. 1 - 26Publisher: Edinburgh University PressPrint publication year: 2015