INNLANDETS POLITISKE LANDSKAP Partier, profiler og mobiliserings bølger 1921-2021

Abstract

The political landscape of Innlandet has been under-researched compared to southwestern and northern Norway. This book aims to help redress that imbalance by tracing the political development of Innlandet over a period of one hundred years.

The class struggles of the interwar years ended in a form of reconciliation between the main actors, but the mentality and political dividing lines persisted for a long time. In many ways, the political geography was reconstituted during the postwar years of societal development. The two referendums on Norway’s relationship with Europe (the EC in 1972 and the EU in 1994) triggered waves of mobilization that significantly influenced the political landscape — as did the so-called conservative wave.

This century has been marked by rural protests that have reactivated the center-periphery divide. At the same time, there has been a process of economic liberalization and a significant transformation of the media and the democratic public sphere. These changes form a crucial backdrop to a political landscape that has shifted to the right — also in Innlandet. Still, the balance of power between political parties in this region remains quite different from the national results.

The book also presents some of the political figures from Hedmark and Oppland who have made an impact on the national stage. This is done through mini-portraits of key political actors from the interwar period up to today’s prominent Members of Parliament and government ministers from Innlandet.