A resolution passed by the Norwegian Parliament on 11th December 1997 authorised a research group to compile a report on Power and Democracy within a period of five years. In August 2003 the group finished The Norwegian Study of Power and Democracy, a study that Stein Ringen calls "unique in force and scope."
The main themes in the study are the conditions for popular political participation in Norway and changes in these conditions as a result of internationalisation, development of new technology, environmental challenges, privatisation, decentralisation, gender equality, the mass media, the multi cultural society and the information society.
The research group for The Norwegian Study of Power and Democracy, appointed by the government of Norway in March 1998, was lead by Professor Øyvind Østerud at the Department of Political Science, University of Oslo.
Stein Ringen is professor of Sociology and Social Policy at Oxford University. Click here to read his essay 'Where Now, Democracy?'
Simon Jenkins is former editor of The Times. Click here to read his article "Democracy is dying but we're too rich to care" from The Times of 20 February, written in response to Stein Ringen's essay.