Norway

Abstract

In this chapter, we describe the institutional setting of parliamentary debate in Stortinget and identify correlates of speech participation, drawing on a dataset of more than a quarter of a million speeches from 1998 to 2016. The key correlate of speech participation is committee membership in the committee responsible for preparing the report for the topic under discussion. However, that is not the whole story. Party elites speak more than backbenchers. As speaking time is allocated proportional to party size, MPs from the smaller parties speak more often than their counterparts in the larger parties. While we uncover a gender difference in the overall allocation of speeches, this is only present amongst parties on the right of the political spectrum. We do not find a similar difference in length of speech or allocation of speeches amongst members within the same committee. Hence, we ascribe the gender difference in speeches to gender differences in committee composition.

The determinants of the media coverage of politicians: The role of parliamentary activities

“…In terms of legislative speeches, we know from past research that party control over floor access varies between countries (Bäck et al., 2021; Proksch & Slapin, 2015). Whereas the procedures and conventions that shape legislative proceedings in the House of Commons provide legislators with ample room for floor access (Blumenau & Damiani, 2021), political parties in the Norwegian case have relatively more influence over floor time (Søyland & Høyland, 2021). Still, the rules of procedure in the Norwegian parliament make it clear that MPs are allowed to request floor time during debates.…”