REGIONAL POLICY IN NORWAY AND SWEDEN: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Abstract

Sweden and Norway are two relatively similar countries at a glance, which both have adopted the "Scandinavian Welfare State Model".This includes the field of regional policy.However, if we look more carefully, there are certain discrepancies in this field.These differences have been discussed earlier, but previous analyses have focused mostly on comparing the aims and measures for regional policy in the narrow sense in the two countries.This paper deals with regional policy also in the broader sense, and tentatively discuss effects of such policies in terms of regional development and prospects for analysing these effects.An important part of the analysises to what extent and how regional policies in Sweden as a member of the EU, and Norway as a non-member, are influenced by European integration.Our main hypothesis is that both countries' regional policy aims and measures move towards the EU's, Sweden's faster than Norway's.The result of this process may be a widening gap between the two countries with regard to the national regional policies and perhaps differing preconditions for regional development in peripheral regions.