Norway: Ministerial Autonomy and Collective Responsibility

Abstract

The origins of cabinet government in Norway go back to 1814, when the union with Denmark was dissolved and the Norwegian Constitution was adopted. In the tradition of the age the functions of government were separated into the legislature, the judiciary and the executive. Cabinet government, however, in the sense of parliamentary government, first emerged in 1884 when it was established as constitutional practice that the cabinet is responsible to Parliament and can only survive as long as it can muster a parliamentary majority.