Sweden and Norway

This assumption is far from the truth. Although the Nordic countries have many important characteristics in common-and both Norway and Sweden through the course of history have produced political systems of constitutional monarchies-the differences between these two countries in most aspects of social activities are enormous (to say nothing of their differences with the other three Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Finland and Iceland). From inside the region, the Nordic peoples themselves remain very conscious of the many ways in which they differ. Norway and Sweden generally view each other's country with suspicion, if not disdain. They share a history of war and conquest between them, and each country has grown from very different socioeconomic backgrounds. Even the languages of Norwegian and Swedish are not as compatible as, say, Norwegian and Danish.

It is the purpose of this research to demonstrate how Sweden and Norway have pursued very different paths toward the development of their seemingly similar socio-political systems of constitutional monarchies and their rather recent convergenc

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oth would renounce absolutism, which they promptly did. Under the new constitution of 1719, royal authority was made subject to a council of 17 representatives accountable to the Riksdag. Although a crown was recognized in Swedish government, Sweden was in reality a republic. The Riksdag met for several months every third year and was composed of the nobility, clergy and burghers. The peasantry, owing to their royalist leanings which developed out of a distrust of the aristocracy, were excluded from representation in the Riksdag. Nevertheless, this era was a remarkable period for the flowering of Swedish parliamentary democracy. The Riksdag wielded legislative power, set taxes and appointed political officials. In addition, new freedoms were recognized, such as the law of freedom of the press in 1766. Sweden's "Era of Freedom," however, was not without its limitations. An inevitable development of a strong parliamentary democracy was the emergence of political parties. By the 1730s, two political parties were created which organized political representatives and the citizenry into distinct camps around the controversial issue of foreign policy. The "Caps," led by Arvid Horn, and their opponents, the "Hats," inaugurated
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Approximate Word count = 6883
Approximate Pages = 28 (250 words per page)

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