Norway’s EU Experience and Lessons for the UK: On Autonomy and Wriggle Room

This book examines Norway’s affiliation to the EU and systematically assesses the potential suitability of this arrangement for the UK as a viable EU affiliation post-Brexit.

Framing the book within the framework of the broader European context, the authors ask how much autonomy and room to manoeuvre tightly integrated non-member states have under this arrangement. They present an in-depth assessment of Norway’s close EU affiliation and provide insight into what this may reveal to us about the post-Brexit European political order. The book’s analytical framework centred on autonomy under complex interdependence has relevance well beyond the confines of the Norway case. This includes the UK, not least since the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) leaves considerable uncertainty. It contains transitory elements; there will be implementation reviews, and there may be many more bilateral and multilateral agreements before the trade relationship is fully defined.

This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of European Union politics, Norwegian politics, British politics, European integration, and, more broadly, to European studies and international relations.

John Erik Fossum is Professor at ARENA Centre for European Studies, University of Oslo, Norway.

Christopher Lord is Professor at ARENA Centre for European Studies, University of Oslo, Norway.

Fay Madeleine Farstad is Senior Researcher at CICERO – Center for International Climate Research, Norway.

Arild Aurvåg Farsund is Professor at the Department of Government, University of Bergen, Norway.

Merethe Dotterud Leiren is Research Director at CICERO – Center for International Climate Research, Norway.

Espen D. H. Olsen is Professor at Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway, and Senior Researcher at ARENA Centre for European Studies, University of Oslo, Norway.

Marianne Riddervold is Professor of Political Science at the Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Researcher at NUPI, and Senior Fellow at the UC Berkeley Institute for European Studies.

Johanne Døhlie Saltnes is Lecturer and Visiting Researcher at the University of Brasilia, Brazil, and Affiliated Researcher at ARENA Centre for European Studies, University of Oslo, Norway.

Øyvind Svendsen is Senior Researcher at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) and Associate Professor at the Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences.

Jarle Trondal is Professor at Department of Political Science and Management, University of Agder, Norway; Professor at ARENA Centre for European Studies, University of Oslo, Norway; and Senior Fellow at Institute of European Studies, University of California, Berkeley, US.