The development of sovereign and democratic states. Norway and Sweden (PDF)

Essay from the year 2008 in the subject Politics - Political Systems - General and Comparisons, grade: 1,7, University of Bergen, language: English, abstract: In this essay, I will compare the development as sovereign and democratic states of two of the Nordic countries, Norway and Sweden. But why exactly these neighboring states which seem to be so similar in most respects? The answer is based on different types of nation building that distinguishes two main ways of that process in Norden: One happened in Denmark and Sweden where the state evolved first and then afterwards the nation in it. The other way is just opposite with having the nation exist at first and shaping the state around it - this was the case in Norway, Finland, and Iceland. In order to get a better understanding of the nation building processes, I chose Norway and Sweden, so as to have one representing country for each type of nation building. The beginning of the discussion shall be a historical overview on Sweden and will then continue with Norway, whose history took place quite differently. I will continue with a discussion about the nation building process and finally analyze today's situation concerning the current state of development, especially the sovereignty of the countries - are they really as sovereign as they seem to outsiders? The essay will finish with a summarizing conclusion.