The two kingdoms: The Norwegian Seamen's Church in London, 1865-1905

The Norwegian church in London began its life as a mission to Scandinavian seamen in 1868, after an evangelical society for this group had been founded in Bergen in 1864. Throughout the period covered, the former was involved in extensive cooperation with the other Nordic missions in the British capital. Yet it was always a congregation rather than just a mission and, as time went by, it became more self‐consciously Norwegian too. Evidence presented here suggests the mission was a place of worship for its domiciled compatriots before 1872, when the church building was completed. In common with many foreign Protestant churches in London, the Norwegian congregation experienced some conflict. There were restrictions on it owing to Norway having entered a forced union with Sweden in 1814. The Swedish church saw itself as catering for both nationalities and would not brook competition from what was officially a service for Scandinavian seamen. The clergy were not natural supporters of Norwegian nationalism. But as their country became more self‐assertive within the union from 1880, they began demanding enhanced rights for their church. It was only when Norway had unilaterally declared its independence in 1905 that the clergy became full‐blown adherents of this

Parliamentary history in Norwegian school textbooks (1800–2000)

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Do the Mega and Titan Tests Yield Accurate Results? An Investigation into Two Experimental Intelligence Tests

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The British and Norwegian Labour parties in the interwar period with particular reference to 1929-1936: electoral prospects.

The thesis compares the British and Norwegian Labour parties between 1918 and 1939. It argues that the Norwegian Labour Party was more successful than its British counterpart in the interwar period. This was particularly true for the 1930s, which after the Depression started in 1929 were the crucial years for resolving the political struggle between the wars. Success clearly depended on the outcome of elections. For this reason two chapters concern the British party's campaigning in 1929, 1931 and 1935. The object is to discover how strong it was, what resources were available to it, its electoral tactics and to whom it appealed. Two parallel chapters treat the Norwegian party's electioneering in 1930, 1933 and 1936. The question of electoral appeal is important because highly influential research by Gosta Esping-Andersen (1985) and Gregory Luebbert (1991) found that an alliance between urban workers and the family peasantry was the key to Socialist success. This thesis aims to move beyond such a view. In the comparison of Britain and Norway it explains relative success in terms of the trajectories of the two parties, the effect of the Depression as well as labour movement strength and funding

Introduction

This is the contribution "Introduction" of MTS 48 (2012)

Eugenics as a Science and as a Social Movement: The Cases of Denmark and Norway 1900–1950

The article compares Danish and Norwegian eugenics in the first half of the twentieth century. It especially investigates sterilisation and racism, both of which are associated with the doctrine. However, it argues that the laws of 1929, 1934 and 1935 allowing sterilisation in Denmark were accepted as means to combat sexual offences. The comparative method supports such a contention, as the Norwegian sterilisation law of 1934 is found to have developed along parallel lines. Neither country had a functioning eugenics society. Therefore the doctrine was the provenance of scientists and other experts. Popularisation attempts met resistance from specialists. Eugenics could nevertheless be applied to debates about criminality or race. Similarities between the Danish and Norwegian versions outweighed differences. But in Denmark there was a greater focus on the pernicious societal effects of “feeblemindedness” than in Norway. Conversely, Norwegian eugenics was more racist than Danish