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What is the Norway Model? Mode of Affiliation or Political Compromise?
Author(s) -
Fossum John Erik
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
the political quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.373
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1467-923X
pISSN - 0032-3179
DOI - 10.1111/1467-923x.12684
Subject(s) - compromise , politics , presupposition , norwegian , brexit , core (optical fiber) , political science , political economy , function (biology) , sociology , law and economics , positive economics , economics , law , european union , epistemology , international trade , computer science , telecommunications , philosophy , linguistics , evolutionary biology , biology
Brexit is a high‐stakes political process, but there is still no clear understanding of the political factors that underpin the various affiliation modes that the UK is currently debating. These are treated as quite static constructs, with emphasis on legal detail not the political and societal conditions that make them operate. What does the inclusion of the UK in the European Economic Area ( EEA ) agreement—which is the core component of the Norway model—do to that arrangement, itself a domestic Norwegian compromise? Will the arrangement continue to function, or will the UK 's presence fundamentally alter or even abrogate the arrangement? This article spells out the specific political presuppositions that the Norway model rests on, and notes that the UK cannot emulate these. In addition, it argues that the more closely attached to the EEA agreement the UK is, the more precarious the arrangement will be.