By Adriana Bunea and Idunn Nørbech
Abstract:In this chapter, we outline Norwegian decision-makers’ public consultation activities and focus more explicitly on the Norwegian government’s online public consultations. We track the historical development of Government public consultations from 1967 to today and highlight a trend towards more inclusive and transparent consultation practices. We further provide descriptive statistics from a novel dataset of 4,062 Government online consultations between 2009-2023. We observe varying levels of activity among Norwegian ministries in organizing public consultations, with defence and foreign policy areas less frequently engaging the public due to their expert-driven nature. Despite this, the overall trend shows an increase in public consultations, indicating a shift toward a more participatory and neo-pluralist style of policymaking in Norway. While the participation of organised interests in consultation has remained relatively stable across the time period, the participation of citizens has increased over the years. This development is likely driven by the introduction of an online platform, as well as some highly salient policies driving engagement.
To be published in:
Oxford: Oxford University Press, Forthcoming