Viken[3] is a county under disestablishment in Eastern Norway that was established on 1 January 2020 by the merger of Akershus, Buskerud and Østfold with the addition of the municipalities of Jevnaker, Lunner and the former municipality of Svelvik. Viken was controversial from the onset, with an approval rating of about 20% in the region, and the merger was resisted by all the three counties. Viken has been compared to gerrymandering.[4] The county executive of Viken determined in 2019, before the merger had taken effect, that the county's disestablishment is its main political goal, and the formal process to dissolve Viken was initiated by the county executive in right after the 2021 Norwegian parliamentary election in which parties seeking to reverse the merger won a majority.[5][6] The political platform of the government of Jonas Gahr Støre states that the government will dissolve Viken and re-establish Akershus, Buskerud and Østfold based on a request from the county itself.[7][8] On 22 February 2022, the regional assembly of Viken approved the formal request to disestablish the county, which will come into effect on 1 January 2024.[9] The existing counties will continue to function with separate county administrations based on their existing infrastructure in anticipation of their formal re-establishment.[10]
Viken was home to over 1.2 million people, or 23% of the national population.[11][12] The county seat is the national capital, Oslo, which is an enclave of Viken and is not part of the county. Oslo had been the seat of Akershus county since the Middle Ages. All of Viken is located in the historical Akershus, which included much of Eastern Norway. The county takes its name from the historical region of Viken, which has been defined as an area in Bohuslän, in what is now western Sweden, since the Middle Ages.
Viken was formed in 2020 by the merger of the counties Akershus, Buskerud, and Østfold. After the elected regional assemblies had voted against the proposed merger, a narrow majority of the right-wing parties in the Storting voted in 2017 to merge the counties in 2020 by force; in addition, the Storting voted to include Svelvik municipality from Vestfold, and Jevnaker and Lunner municipalities from Oppland.[13]
Viken county takes its name from the historic region of Viken, which during the Viking Age loosely referred to the areas around the Oslofjord but became synonymous with Bohuslän (now in Sweden) during the Middle Ages. In Norway, the use of the name Viken was revived only by the fascist Nasjonal Samling during the Second World War to draw parallels to the Viking Age. It referred to Vestfold and Buskerud as Vest-Viken and Akershus (including most of modern Oslo) and Østfold as Øst-Viken.[14] The new Viken county does not include large parts of the historical Viken, including the region's historical centre Bohuslän, most of Vestfold or Oslo.[4] Viken County decided that the interim county capital will be Oslo.
"Sannermandering" debateEdit
Viken has been described, such as by the director of Oslo Museum Lars Roede, as an example of Sannermandering, named after the minister responsible, Jan Tore Sanner, and modelled after the term gerrymandering.[4] Roede described Viken as "an extreme monstrosity that flies in the face of geography and history" that is "reminiscent of manipulated electoral districts in the United States" and deeply unpopular in the affected regions. Roede also criticised "the amateurish logos and unhistorical names".[4]
DissolutionEdit
Viken county is widely perceived as lacking legitimacy, with an approval rating of 20% in the region, and is opposed by the former counties concerned. A common complaint is the inclusion of inland mountain areas like Ål and Hemsedal, which lack a cultural connection to the Oslofjord area. Another common complaint is the non-inclusion of Oslo although it has been the capital of Akershus since the Middle Ages and is the county that has the closest ties to Akershus. Most of Akershus is part of the Oslo metropolitan area.[15] On 1 October 2019, the newly-elected governing majority parties in the planned county declared their intention of seeking to dissolve Viken and to re-establish the counties of Akershus, Buskerud and Østfold.[16] The current official governing platform of Viken county states, "Viken is an ill-considered construction. The Storting has merged Akershus, Buskerud and Østfold against their will". It declares that the disestablishment of Viken is the main political goal of the county administration. For the same reason, the county council decided that it will not do anything to merge the counties in practice or establish a common county administration. Instead, the existing counties will continue to function at their current locations in anticipation of their formal re-establishment.[10]
In the 2021 parliamentary election, the parties that seek to dissolve Viken won a majority, and the Centre Party made the disestablishment of Viken a condition for participating in a new government.[17] Immediately after the election, the county executive initiated the formal process to dissolve Viken.[5][6]
Coat of armsEdit
The county coat of arms was adopted in 2020 and based on a citizen's proposal. Therefore, it bears no resemblance to older heraldic arms from the area. The historian Lars Roede criticised the coat of arms as an "amateurish logo" and wrote that the coat of arms "does not adhere to the requirements of good heraldry" and so would have been rejected by heraldic experts in the National Archives. He stated that "looks like three flying saucers under [a] cap" and is "a logo, not a heraldic coat of arms".[4]
GeographyEdit
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (January 2023)
^"Saksfremlegg - Søknad om fylkesdeling". Viken fylkeskommune. Retrieved 29 May 2022.
^"Forskrift om målvedtak i kommunar og fylkeskommunar" (in Norwegian). Lovdata.no.
^"Arealstatistikk for Norge". Kartverket (in Norwegian Bokmål). 8 March 2013. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
^ abcdeLars Roede [no], "Viken og Innlandet: Amatørmessige logoer og uhistoriske navn" [Viken and Innlandet: Amateurish logos and unhistorical names], Aftenposten, 11 January 2020
^ ab"Viken i gang med å forberede oppsplitting" [Viken is preparing dissolution of the county]. VG. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
^ ab"Nytt stortingsflertall – prosess for Viken". Viken. Retrieved 15 September 2021.
^AS, TV 2 (13 October 2021). "Dette er partiene enige om". TV 2.
^Lindahl, Magnus (13 October 2021). "Kan oppløyse Viken innan 1. juli". Hallingdølen.
^Session of Viken regional assembly, 23 February 2022]
^ abLilleås, Heidi Schei (October 2019). "Monica Mæland om Viken-dramaet: Vil ikke spekulere". Nettavisen.
^. viken.no. Archived from the original on 1 August 2021.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Viken (county).
October 16, 2023
viken, county, neutrality, this, article, disputed, relevant, discussion, found, talk, page, please, remove, this, message, until, conditions, july, 2022, learn, when, remove, this, template, message, historical, region, viken, region, viken, county, under, di. The neutrality of this article is disputed Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page Please do not remove this message until conditions to do so are met July 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message For the historical region see Viken region Viken 3 is a county under disestablishment in Eastern Norway that was established on 1 January 2020 by the merger of Akershus Buskerud and Ostfold with the addition of the municipalities of Jevnaker Lunner and the former municipality of Svelvik Viken was controversial from the onset with an approval rating of about 20 in the region and the merger was resisted by all the three counties Viken has been compared to gerrymandering 4 The county executive of Viken determined in 2019 before the merger had taken effect that the county s disestablishment is its main political goal and the formal process to dissolve Viken was initiated by the county executive in right after the 2021 Norwegian parliamentary election in which parties seeking to reverse the merger won a majority 5 6 The political platform of the government of Jonas Gahr Store states that the government will dissolve Viken and re establish Akershus Buskerud and Ostfold based on a request from the county itself 7 8 On 22 February 2022 the regional assembly of Viken approved the formal request to disestablish the county which will come into effect on 1 January 2024 9 The existing counties will continue to function with separate county administrations based on their existing infrastructure in anticipation of their formal re establishment 10 Viken fylkeCountyCoat of armsViken within NorwayViken fylkeViken within VikenShow map of Viken county Viken fylkeViken fylke Norway Show map of NorwayCoordinates 60 N 10 E 60 N 10 E 60 10CountryNorwayCountyVikenDistrictEastern NorwayEstablished1 January 2020 Preceded byBuskerud Akershus and Ostfold countiesDisestablished1 January 2024 planned dissolution date 1 Succeeded byBuskerud Akershus and Ostfold countiesAdministrative centreOslo county municipality Drammen council Sarpsborg offices Moss county governor Government BodyViken County Municipality Governor 2011 Valgerd Svarstad Haugland KrF County mayor 2020 Roger Ryberg Ap Area Total24 593 km2 9 495 sq mi Land22 768 km2 8 791 sq mi Water1 824 km2 704 sq mi 7 4 Rank 6 in NorwayPopulation 2021 Total1 252 384 Rank 1 in Norway Density55 km2 140 sq mi Change 10 years 13 5 Official language 2 Norwegian formNeutralTime zoneUTC 01 00 CET Summer DST UTC 02 00 CEST ISO 3166 codeNO 30WebsiteOfficial websiteData from Statistics NorwayViken was home to over 1 2 million people or 23 of the national population 11 12 The county seat is the national capital Oslo which is an enclave of Viken and is not part of the county Oslo had been the seat of Akershus county since the Middle Ages All of Viken is located in the historical Akershus which included much of Eastern Norway The county takes its name from the historical region of Viken which has been defined as an area in Bohuslan in what is now western Sweden since the Middle Ages Contents 1 History 1 1 Sannermandering debate 1 2 Dissolution 2 Coat of arms 3 Geography 3 1 Mountains 4 Municipalities 5 ReferencesHistory EditViken was formed in 2020 by the merger of the counties Akershus Buskerud and Ostfold After the elected regional assemblies had voted against the proposed merger a narrow majority of the right wing parties in the Storting voted in 2017 to merge the counties in 2020 by force in addition the Storting voted to include Svelvik municipality from Vestfold and Jevnaker and Lunner municipalities from Oppland 13 Viken county takes its name from the historic region of Viken which during the Viking Age loosely referred to the areas around the Oslofjord but became synonymous with Bohuslan now in Sweden during the Middle Ages In Norway the use of the name Viken was revived only by the fascist Nasjonal Samling during the Second World War to draw parallels to the Viking Age It referred to Vestfold and Buskerud as Vest Viken and Akershus including most of modern Oslo and Ostfold as Ost Viken 14 The new Viken county does not include large parts of the historical Viken including the region s historical centre Bohuslan most of Vestfold or Oslo 4 Viken County decided that the interim county capital will be Oslo Sannermandering debate Edit Viken has been described such as by the director of Oslo Museum Lars Roede as an example of Sannermandering named after the minister responsible Jan Tore Sanner and modelled after the term gerrymandering 4 Roede described Viken as an extreme monstrosity that flies in the face of geography and history that is reminiscent of manipulated electoral districts in the United States and deeply unpopular in the affected regions Roede also criticised the amateurish logos and unhistorical names 4 Dissolution Edit Viken county is widely perceived as lacking legitimacy with an approval rating of 20 in the region and is opposed by the former counties concerned A common complaint is the inclusion of inland mountain areas like Al and Hemsedal which lack a cultural connection to the Oslofjord area Another common complaint is the non inclusion of Oslo although it has been the capital of Akershus since the Middle Ages and is the county that has the closest ties to Akershus Most of Akershus is part of the Oslo metropolitan area 15 On 1 October 2019 the newly elected governing majority parties in the planned county declared their intention of seeking to dissolve Viken and to re establish the counties of Akershus Buskerud and Ostfold 16 The current official governing platform of Viken county states Viken is an ill considered construction The Storting has merged Akershus Buskerud and Ostfold against their will It declares that the disestablishment of Viken is the main political goal of the county administration For the same reason the county council decided that it will not do anything to merge the counties in practice or establish a common county administration Instead the existing counties will continue to function at their current locations in anticipation of their formal re establishment 10 In the 2021 parliamentary election the parties that seek to dissolve Viken won a majority and the Centre Party made the disestablishment of Viken a condition for participating in a new government 17 Immediately after the election the county executive initiated the formal process to dissolve Viken 5 6 Coat of arms EditThe county coat of arms was adopted in 2020 and based on a citizen s proposal Therefore it bears no resemblance to older heraldic arms from the area The historian Lars Roede criticised the coat of arms as an amateurish logo and wrote that the coat of arms does not adhere to the requirements of good heraldry and so would have been rejected by heraldic experts in the National Archives He stated that looks like three flying saucers under a cap and is a logo not a heraldic coat of arms 4 Geography EditThis section needs expansion You can help by adding to it January 2023 Mountains Edit Glitrehogda Gunnarshaugen Hadelandshogda Paradiskollen Skinnskattberget 18 Municipalities EditViken County has a total of 51 municipalities all created in 2020 19 20 Municipality No Name Population on1 January 2020 21 Former Municipality No Former County3001 Halden 31 373 0101 Halden Ostfold3002 Moss 49 273 0104 Moss0136 Rygge3003 Sarpsborg 56 732 0105 Sarpsborg3004 Fredrikstad 82 385 0106 Fredrikstad3005 Drammen 101 386 0602 Drammen0625 Nedre Eiker Buskerud0711 Svelvik Vestfold3006 Kongsberg 27 723 0604 Kongsberg Buskerud3007 Ringerike 30 641 0605 Ringerike3011 Hvaler 4 668 0111 Hvaler Ostfold3012 Aremark 1 325 0118 Aremark3013 Marker 3 595 0119 Marker3014 Indre Ostfold 44 792 0122 Trogstad0123 Spydeberg0124 Askim0125 Eidsberg0138 Hobol3015 Skiptvet 3 805 0127 Skiptvet3016 Rakkestad 8 255 0128 Rakkestad3017 Rade 7 508 0135 Rade3018 Valer 5 736 0137 Valer3019 Vestby 18 042 0211 Vestby Akershus3020 Nordre Follo 59 288 0213 Ski0217 Oppegard3021 As 20 439 0214 As3022 Frogn 15 877 0215 Frogn3023 Nesodden 19 616 0216 Nesodden3024 Baerum 127 731 0219 Baerum3025 Asker 94 441 0220 Asker0627 Royken0628 Hurum Buskerud3026 Aurskog Holand 17 390 0121 Romskog Ostfold0222 Aurskog Holand Akershus3027 Raelingen 18 530 0228 Raelingen3028 Enebakk 11 110 0229 Enebakk3029 Lorenskog 41 460 0230 Lorenskog3030 Lillestrom 85 983 0226 Sorum0227 Fet0231 Skedsmo3031 Nittedal 24 249 0233 Nittedal3032 Gjerdrum 6 890 0234 Gjerdrum3033 Ullensaker 39 625 0235 Ullensaker3034 Nes 23 092 0236 Nes3035 Eidsvoll 25 436 0237 Eidsvoll3036 Nannestad 14 139 0238 Nannestad3037 Hurdal 2 854 0239 Hurdal3038 Hole 6 799 0612 Hole Buskerud3039 Fla 1 050 0615 Fla3040 Nesbyen 3 273 0616 Nes3041 Gol 4 608 0617 Gol3042 Hemsedal 2 486 0618 Hemsedal3043 Al 4 674 0619 Al3044 Hol 4 441 0620 Hol3045 Sigdal 3 467 0621 Sigdal3046 Krodsherad 2 212 0622 Krodsherad3047 Modum 14 115 0623 Modum3048 Ovre Eiker 19 423 0624 Ovre Eiker3049 Lier 26 811 0626 Lier3050 Flesberg 2 688 0631 Flesberg3051 Rollag 1 390 0632 Rollag3052 Nore og Uvdal 2 439 0633 Nore og Uvdal3053 Jevnaker 6 852 0532 Jevnaker Oppland3054 Lunner 9 048 0533 LunnerReferences Edit Saksfremlegg Soknad om fylkesdeling Viken fylkeskommune Retrieved 29 May 2022 Forskrift om malvedtak i kommunar og fylkeskommunar in Norwegian Lovdata no Arealstatistikk for Norge Kartverket in Norwegian Bokmal 8 March 2013 Retrieved 2 January 2020 a b c d e Lars Roede no Viken og Innlandet Amatormessige logoer og uhistoriske navn Viken and Innlandet Amateurish logos and unhistorical names Aftenposten 11 January 2020 a b Viken i gang med a forberede oppsplitting Viken is preparing dissolution of the county VG Retrieved 22 September 2021 a b Nytt stortingsflertall prosess for Viken Viken Retrieved 15 September 2021 AS TV 2 13 October 2021 Dette er partiene enige om TV 2 Lindahl Magnus 13 October 2021 Kan opployse Viken innan 1 juli Hallingdolen Session of Viken regional assembly 23 February 2022 a b Lilleas Heidi Schei October 2019 Monica Maeland om Viken dramaet Vil ikke spekulere Nettavisen Fakta og tall om Viken Viken fylkeskommune viken no Archived from the original on 1 August 2021 Senterpartiet vil opplose Viken 31 July 2021 Granli Lene 6 April 2018 19 fylker blir til 11 dette skal de hete NRK in Norwegian Bokmal Retrieved 21 August 2019 Telemark kan fa nazi navn TA no 6 November 2017 Blir storre enn Slovenia Dagsavisen in Norwegian Bokmal 23 February 2017 Retrieved 4 July 2021 Sorgjerd Kjetil Magne Sorenes Christian October 2019 Viken flertallet vil legge ned Viken Aftenposten Na ligger alt til rette for at Viken opploses Dagsavisen Retrieved 15 September 2021 Skinnskattberget 550m peakbook org peakbook org Retrieved 19 June 2023 List of Norwegian municipality numbers Norwegian List of municipality numbers of Norway English Statistics Norway web nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Viken county Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Viken county amp oldid 1163988070, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
