Introduction
The resolution B. innst. S. nr. 2 (1997 - 98), passed by the
Norwegian Parliament on 11th December 1997, authorizes a research
group to compile a report on Power and Democracy within a
period of five years. The members of the group were appointed
at a meeting of the Norwegian Cabinet on 13th. March 1998.
The mandate states that the main theme of
the report should be the terms of Norwegian parliamentary
democracy and any alterations that may have occurred with
regard to these terms. The report is expected to consider
carefully to what extent individual participation, in the
various organizations of the community and in community
life itself, is affected. It will also consider to what
extent the political system and institutions of government
are affected, and what features characterize the relationship
between individual participation and central bodies of government.
The Mandate also points to a number of vital
challenges that a representative democracy will have to
face - increasing internationalization, the development
and availability of modern technology; the growth of public
opinion; environmental issues; the problems generated by
a multiethnical community; a community demanding qualifications
and knowledge; decentralization, deregulation, privatization,
mechanisms influencing markets and consumer involvement.
Furthermore, the mandate suggests that consideration
be paid to the significance of socio-economical and cultural
divisions within the community and the individual's age
and sex as regards prospects of participating and exerting
one's influence in community life.
Finally, the mandate leaves it to the research
group's discretion to consider other factors that may be
of significance and to interpret the mandate more precisely
in order to supplement, limit or shape a more manageable
approach to the problems under consideration. The mandate
invites the research group to avail itself of relevant research
work being carried out in Norway and to co-ordinate part
of its research with parallel investigative projects in
Sweden and Denmark. In this context it is suggested that
one should establish links with a Scandinavian/internationally
composed reference group of research workers within this
field.
One does not expect that all areas of the
mandate will be investigated equally thoroughly. Extensive
research has been carried out in certain areas and this
may be relatively easily utilized. In other areas it will
be almost impossible to present an adequate solution to
the problems being investigated. The research group is advised
to focus its efforts on topics and approach to problems
that lend themselves to scientifically acceptable investigations.
The group will be expected to keep the threads
of research gathered within a dominant framework. This will
be a particularly difficult challenge since the research
group itself is professionally and geographically diversified,
and because a so-called network model is being planned with
more or less comprehensive tasks being relayed to research
communities even beyond the group's own professional institutions.
The following is, from a research point of
view, a collective and manageable interpretation of the
mandate.
A current report on Norwegian power and democracy
The Nation State has always provided a dominating framework
for democracy. The idea of a representative democracy grew
out of politically integrated Nation States, and the principles
of participation and distribution have developed within the
bounds of such states. Constitutional bodies of power developed
out of an institutional differentiation and distribution of
the collective authority of the State. The public sphere became
distinct from the private ; the political system became separated
from the administrative, the religious, the legal, free enterprise
economy and the scientific systems. Functional specialization
is closely linked to the development of a modern state.
Historically speaking, the conditions of
democracy are bound to the conditions of the Nation State,
and it is a more open question in what ways democracy may
be tied to other boundaries. The State has been described
as both a monopoly of power and a monopoly of taxation.
Legitimate political power lies within the bodies of the
sovereign state and taxation provides the means for redistribution
of resources and the exercise of common tasks. The existence
and functioning of the political system is dependent upon
large sections of the masses accepting this twofold power
as justified and legitimate. In this way the Nation State
operates as a system of resolve and a political community,
both as a framework for authoritative resolutions and for
a collective identity.
Norwegian politics and social life are different
today than during the period 1972 to 1982 when the previous
report on Power and Democracy was drawn up. The purpose
of this current report on Power and Democracy in Norway
will partly be to indicate and elucidate on the changes
that have occurred. Thus, it will be necessary for both
individual investigative projects and the final report to
be presented within a historical and comparative perspective
The Nation State today is facing strong challenges
from both outside and within its own borders. On the outside
there is extensive internationalization where a number of
vital resolutions escape control of the individual state,
and where there are queries about the Nation State's power
both as a sovereign system of resolve and as a framework
for collective identity.
Within the Nation State's borders there is
an intricate alteration in the dividing lines between separate
institutions, where the relationship between political bodies
and market-directed, legal, religious, cultural or scientific
principles appears complex and problematic.
The external framework has been changed by
an extreme internationalization or globalization. The term
" globalization " refers partly to an extreme
stage of internationalization where financial activity in
particular, pays no attention to state borders, and partly
to the process leading to this stage. It is precisely this
process and tendency that are important for our interpretation
of the term.
Once again a historical perspective is important
because a large number of aspects associated with internationalization
and globalization are not novel.
As far as the Norwegian authorities are concerned,
globalization mainly involves a limitation of the capacity
for action. This means :
- that taxation of capital becomes more
difficult when there is a free flow of capital to low-cost
countries,
- that wealthy countries are forced to a
greater extent to choose between a higher level of unemployment
or a lower level of wages in many industries,
- that welfare arrangements become strained
in the face of international competition,
- that democratically elected bodies are
unable to reach and communicate with more distant seats
of power where decisions of consequence are made,
- that environmental consequences draw up
the lines for political priorities or recoil in the shape
of unintentional side effects.
At the same time globalization provides new
impulses and possibilities for adopting supernational measures.
The authorities' capacity for action, their power and their
impotence must be more precisely surveyed.
Widespread globalization yields one set of
guiding principles in such a survey, the commitments and
opportunities laid down in the EEC (European Economic Co-operation)
agreement yield a second, the conditions and negotiations
within WTO (World Trade Organization) yield a third, and
the wealth lying in oil and gas resourceswith their strategic
advantages and vulnerability, a fourth.
It has been suggested that facilities for
management become inwardly eroded when part systems are
allowed to act on their own logic, independent of any co-ordinated
distribution and resulting in unintentional and unforseen
consequences. There are however, changes in the opposite
direction as well since part systems become linked in new
ways and dividing lines separating the private sphere and
the public sphere become displaced.This appears to accompany
rather extensive changes of values among the population
and is distinguished by slightly less confidence in public
authorities and a greater demand for development of the
individual. It is possible that modern ideological and organizing
trends may be powerful enough to reduce differences between
the various part systems.
All these new and in some ways dramatic challenges
facing the Nation State and its governing bodies, provide
a collecting framework for the investigation of the conditions
of democracy and the ways in which these conditions may
have altered.
Four spheres and their interplay
How then, should this capacity for action be utilized as it
is shaped by interior and exterior processes? The starting-point
for the analyses will be four spheres linked closely to bodies
of state, to the public sector, to community arenas and local
environment and to market and production areas of the community.
There is firm evidence to support the claim that civilian
society is being transformed and that the balance between
state and market has been altered.We shall be investigating
the relationship between these four spheres, the balance between
them and any alterations to this balance that may have occurred.
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The power of bodies of the State
The previous report on " Power and
Democracy " gives, in this respect, some interesting
starting-points through investigations of governmental
bodies and State segmentation. The relationship between
vital political institutions will play a focal part
in our discussion on this point. Has the balance of
power between vital bodies of government been upset,
for instance by experiencing long terms with minority
governments? What conditions exist for cross-sector
harmonization? Has sectorial politics itself assumed
another character? Has the position of bureaucracy been
altered through politicization of the administration?
What is the current relationship between
the law and politics and between constitutional distribution
of power and true exercise of authority? The relationship
to lesser public authorities will also be of significance
here. Central-peripheral relations become displaced
and local self-government is subjected to pressure from
both an impairment in the participation of local government
electors and contradictory ruling and delegating on
the part of the State. It may be true that the role
played by political parties has changed, and this will
be of consequence for the way in which electoral channels
leading to political influence function.
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Power within the public sphere
Democracy does not only depend on the
ways in which political institutions are organized,
but also on the way civilian society operates. How do
people at large act politically? Experiences and interests
become channelled into organizations, political parties
and pressure groups.
Important sections of the public area
develop through the interaction of these organizing
institutions and those rather more anonymous hegemonies
associated with knowledge, reflection, the genres of
mass media, linguistic usage and ideologies. Here too,
the media play a vital role, and the development of
mass media - both as regards form and content - provides
an important intake for changes in power/impotence relations.
The conditions for collective action and the ways in
which these conditions may have changed should be investigated.
In the same manner, the conditions inspiring confidence
between the people and the public institutions that
democracy is dependent upon should also be examined.
What is the situation as regards the distribution of
political power and political impotence on the basis
of geographical administrative categories such as central
or peripheral localization orsocial categories such
as sex, age, social class affiliation and ethnic background?
Is there any foundation for claiming
that class antagonisms are supplemented or even replaced
by other antagonisms between élitist groups and
the masses, for instance about questions concerning
internationalization and globalization or about education,
commanding information and development of media?
How will the sexual norms of " The
Equal Opportunities Society " be expressed in the
various parts of the public body, and what consequence
will such norms have for the allotment of status and
authority in social debate.
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Power within community arenas and local
environment
The community becomes stabilized by signs
and symbols fashioning a common identity. These signs
and symbols create and support reciprocal confidence
between individuals and groups. National identity has
been regarded as one such mechanism of integration with
immediate consequence for social solidarity, crossing
regional and social class boundaries.
It has been claimed that stable group
indentifications are challenged by processes of individualization
that allow the individual to extract values, ideas and
role-models from different cultures and global media.
This in turn creates, new forms of political discussion
and new forms of the growth of conflict and solidarity.
The conditions for creation of individual and commom
identities reveal a great deal about civilian societyand
the terms for democracy.
The relations of everyday life within
home and family, local environment and other community
arenas, constitute the foundation for development of
values, sense of belonging and ability to influence
one's own situation.
This applies within a majority culture,
within different age groups and in communities based
upon religion, various forms of cohabitation, ethnic
background or sex.
At the same time local environment exhibits
a cutting-surface facing large social institutions such
as kindergartens and schools, health services and social
insurance systems. All these contribute in regulating
individual autonomy and experience of power by both
limiting and expanding the individual's possibilities
for taking action.
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Power of production and market
On the one hand important decisions are
made in markets which are only indirectly subjected
to political control ; on the other hand a great deal
of public control is carried out through a planned application
of market mechanisms.
Privatization and internationalization
involve the balance between politics and market being
upset ; at the same time a liberal market's ideology
may seem to have gained a stronger position in the social
debate.
Industry and commerce produce ideas,
values and forms of organization that have an influence
on large areas of social life. Nor is the market a homogeneous
institution ; participants in the market unite and they
require political legitimacy. Modern conditions for
industry and capital have altered power relationships
in the economy causing serious consequences for the
exercise of authority.
The Norwegian community has developed
a public strategy for comprehensive state ownership,
partly as a countermove against a greater internationalized
production where taxation of capital provokes the transfer
of concerns to low-cost countries. It will be important
to consider this phenomenon more closely.A survey of
changes in structural and ownership conditions within
the the fields of production and trade will provide
a significant starting-point.
Industry and commerce supply ideas and
forms of organization that influence the shape and content
of democracy.
Industry and commerce are also linked
to democracy by way of a system of negotiation and the
relationship between labour organizations on the one
hand, and through forms of shop-floor democracy and
terms of consumer power on the other.
Democratization of labour was a key topic
in the social debate of the 1970's, and important reforms
were implemented. These arrangements are now to a great
extent, taken for granted. At the same time the companies'
framework conditions have been altered in decisive ways
during the two previous decades. Thus it is important
to investigate to what extent current arrangements have
reached a satisfactory form or whether their effects
are being undermined by new economic terms.
The interaction and links between state,
public area, community arenas and market, exercise a
gathering grasp on the " Power and Democracy "
report.The problems associated with democracy provide
a limiting focus. Internationalization and globalization
impinge directly upon each of the four spheres, and
at the same time influence the relationships between
them. In this manner the analysis of exterior framework
conditions provides simultaneously an intake for processes
of alteration both within and between the institutional
spheres.
Environmental questions link state and
market in a global perspective; development of media
and information technology characterize the lives of
ordinary citizens and make controlling demands on public
politics; cultural changes are reinforced through international
market mechanisms and consumer trends and they influence
the basis for national identity and social integration;
public regulations and state politics share and alter
the distribution of power in the labour market.
Positions of power by virtue of state,
market, civilian community and community arenas may
replace each other through strategic manoeuvres, for
instance by new vulnerability in the market being compensated
by organization or by attempts to capture legitimacy
and political control.
The Dimensions of Power
This introductory framework implies that there are several
sides to the question of power and that no single model
of power deals satisfactorily with all of them. Thus from
a professional point of view, power is a disputed issue.
Power has not become the collective basic element for political
studies that some would have hoped a number of decades ago.
Firstly, power represents resources and ability
to influence results. Such direct power may be exercised
by using compulsion or by exchange relations; or in the
terminology used in the previous report on Power and Democracy:
Control of results that carry the interests of others.
Such conditions of power also embrace an
indistinct grey area, where the opposite party's expectations
allow adjustment for a potential exercise of power.
Secondly, power works along the lines of
legitimacy. Power lies in methods of presentation of a case,
procedures and symbolization. This is the power lying in
the categories being used, in the rules and regulations
that govern the resolution making processes and in the context
in which a case and its field of information are being considered.
Thirdly, power is a situational definition;
it is the distinguishing between that which is essential
and the unessential; it is the ability to control and decide
the agenda. In other words, it is the ability to keep certain
questions out of the list of relevent topics to be discussed
and to manoeuvre other questions on to that list.
Fourthly, power is incorporated in our identifications
and opinions.
Power relationships are weaved into social
and material structures ranging from social class and group
division to the fashioning of our physical environment.
Simultaneously, there is a symbolical aspect to power -
the power of the State manifests itself symbolically, the
public sphere is characterized by symbolizations, identity
as well as consumer trends are influenced and expressed
symbolically. The symbolic provides institutions with meaning,
makes them legitimate in the eyes of the people or deprives
them of such legitimacy. In this context profound historic
changes are taking place. A great deal of political dispute
is really a struggle about symbols - the national symbols,
symbols of modernity, equality and participation. The Norwegian
debate concerning affiliation with EU (The European Union)
was to a large extent a war of symbols where illustrations
and metaphors played an important role. Power manifests
itself symbolically, and symbols represent power. Changes
in a community taking place at the sign and symbolic level
will always be important for a report on Power and Democracy.
Expressions like " power politics "
often carry a negative interpretation, but power is not
only used by those who are powerful. Power must also be
seen as a positive resource for the community. It should
be regarded as the ability to conquer collective impotence.
Indeed, power may be justified as legitimate authority.
Thus we have outlined a dominating framework
for an analysis of power where a multi-faceted conception
of power is being considered. The notion of democracy must
be given similar nuances of meaning. We may restrict our
idea of democracy to a competition between political parties
taking part in free elections where there is universal suffrage,
but this idea may also be extended to include broader forms
of participation, public debate, communication and dialogue.
The conditions necessary for power and exercise of power
to be accepted as legitimate provide much of the connection
between power and democracy in the report's mandate. At
this point normative questions that the report will be expected
to consider arise:
- how it is possible to state the grounds
for different forms of power and democracy;
- which forms of control are compatible
with each other;
- which criteria make the basis for fashioning
institutions and decision making systems.
Project fields
The report in the first instance will have to be carried out
by way of a number of individual investigations within a dominant
framework, with the view of some later combination of results.
Individual projects may be divided up into larger areas, where
certain issues may be dealt with using a synthesizing approach
based upon already available research material, while other
issues will demand modern empirical research methods at an
advanced level. Part of the report's mandate is already covered
by available research or from the pending results of parallel
research programmes. The research group is expected to make
use of this material and to decide and plan work priority
so that the unecessary carrying out of the same task twice
may be avoided.
A considerable number of the projects should
have a comparative perspective, and above all they should
highlight characteristics of development and processes of
change. A historical perspective will be necessary to indicate
the importance of internationalization, modern technology
and forms of communication, of the processes inherent in
equal opportunities and of the increasing number of immigrants.
Part investigations will sometimes be directed
by members of the research group individually or co-operatively
and sometimes presented as a research task to be carried
out by research scientists and / or professional bodies
outside the group. Such tasks will cover a wide field ranging
from brief articles and reports to more comprehensive projects.
Individual projects will be expected to be
restricted to the bounds of the report's mandatory framework,
and from various points of view to cover approaches to problems
that illuminate the main topics outlined above. The central
theme of this will be power and democracy as a system of
control within the Norwegian Nation State, and the tensions
that arise when the Nation State's authority is subjected
to challenging forces, both from without and from within.
- The report will contain ideological and
theoretical analyses linked to "power" and "
democracy ". These are disputed notions in the field
of scientific research, with varying political content
and interpretation. At the same time however, it must
be said that they raise fundamental normative questions
that require clarification.
- The report will include a comprehensive
élitist investigation with analysis of the channels
leading to a career, of network and attitudes in politics,
of industry and commerce and of the field of culture.
The Swedish report on Power and Democracy provides comparable
material and the Danish research group plans to undertake
a similar investigation. The report will also comprise
a thorough survey on democracy and participation among
the general public.
- The report will embrace analyses
of the consequences of globalization for Norway, covering
various aspects that restrict or open room for political
action:
- the formal and organizational commitments,
- market liberalism and deregulation,
- the development of technology,
- environmental questions,
- changes in the power of production,
- migrations and the cultural challenge.
- The report will extend the previous report's
investigation of the power of the State. It is expected
to put to the test the thesis on " the segmented
State ", analyse implications about " the modern
State " and examine power relationships between state
bodies during a period with minority governments. The
report should present an illustration of to what extent
the corporative idea has changed character and it should
examine the role of the controlling professions, the administration,
the constitution and the Law Courts in relation to political
authorities.
- The report will analyse the significance
of decentralization, regional power and local structures
of power. This hints at formal procedures as well as control
of resources and industrial economic conditions. Comprehensive
research material is available in these respects and the
research group will avail itself of this material while
ackowledging simultaneously the room for modern empirical
investigations within selected fields. In this connection,
the relationship between the indigenous Lapp population
and the modern Norwegian Nation State will also be of
great interest.
- The report will cover the conditions for
collective formation and organization. The power of organization
includes the role of political parties in the decision
making process, but it also includes trade and professional
organizations, action committees, voluntary organizations,
the Church and religion. This illustrates the strength
that lies in what is known as the civilian community.
- The report will view democracy c"
from below " through investigations of socialization
and the growth of opinion in the family, the local environment
and the school. From this perspective democracy will be
regarded on the basis of participation and power of different
social groups where sex, class, age, place of residence
and ethnic background are differentiating factors.
- The report will analyse the processes
behind equal opportunities and the power of the sexes.
During the past 30 years striking changes have taken place
between men and women at places of employment, in the
family, inside voluntary organizations and in politics.
However, these processes of equal opportunities have developed
differently and have had different consequences within
various areas of the community. The report will place
importance on analyses of sexual political norms and values
as they are expressed through political ideas, growth
of opinion and social practice. In this way the report
will investigate processes of cultural differentiation
and sexual significances of power.
- The report will investigate the power
of information and communication by means of analyses
of technological development characteristics and mass
media.The media's boundaries and content have been greatly
altered since the 1970's. Modern technology is of consequence
for power relations and democracy. The mass media play
a key part in the growth of public opinion by virtue of
their power of definition, power of influence and power
of agenda. Correspondingly the lack of access to media
will represent a source of political and social impotence.
- The report is expected to analyse the
power of knowledge from different points of view. Part
investigations of the role of science and the relationship
between science and control, of development and the controlling
professions and of the autonomy of the knowledge system
and the way it affects the individual's perception of
reality, will be iniated. The report will also analyse
in a broader sense relations in the cultural field. Once
again, the power of definition and ideological hegemonies
will be crucial.
- The report will examine power structures
existing in the world of industry and commerce in order
to present a current illustration of the power of market
and the power of production. It will investigate conditions
for ownership with emphasis on the degree of concentration
within different social groups and the elements of foreign
and state ownership. Investigations of economic power
overlap to a great extent a number of the other topic
areas such as globalization, power of the State and regional
power.
- The report is expected to analyse power
and democracy within the labour market and at places of
employment. This includes negotiations, the participation
of employees in formal bodies such as management committees
and committees for matters concerning the working enviroment.
It also includes participation in decision making linked
to organizing and carrying out work. Both types of participation
must be regarded in connection with changes in the market
conditions for businesses and in ownership structures
nationally and internationally.
This division into project fields is based
on two principles. The one is vertical with power and democracy
viewed on various levels, from State leadership to the life
of the individual citizen. The other is horizontal with
power and democracy viewed within part systems of the community
such as politics, economy, justice, science, culture, education,
mass media and religion. The elements connecting project
fields with the projects themselves will be the superior
perspectives on state, civilian community, market and community
arenas within a Nation State under pressure.
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