Viken was a short-lived county in Norway that existed from 1 January 2020 to 1 January 2024. Its name was derived from the historical region in present-day Norway and Sweden. The county was located in Eastern Norway when it 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 Svelvik Municipality. Both its creation and its name—described as unhistorical by historians—were controversial from the onset, the merger was resisted by all the three counties and the new county had an approval rating of about 20% in the region. Viken has been compared to gerrymandering. The newly constructed coat of arms of Viken lacked a historical basis and was described by experts as an amateurish logo that did not adhere to the rules of heraldry, and as "three flying saucers under a cap." The county executive of Viken determined in 2019, before the merger had taken effect, that the county's disestablishment was its main political goal, and the formal process to dissolve Viken was initiated by the county executive right after the 2021 Norwegian parliamentary election in which parties seeking to reverse the merger won a majority. The political platform of the government of Jonas Gahr Støre stated that the government would dissolve Viken and re-establish Akershus, Buskerud and Østfold based on a request from the county itself. On 22 February 2022, the regional assembly of Viken approved the formal request to disestablish the county, and the disestablishment took effect on 1 January 2024.Session of Viken regional assembly, 23 February 2022]
Viken was home to over 1.2 million people, or 23% of the national population. The county seat was the national capital, Oslo, which was 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 was located in the historical Akershus, which included much of Eastern Norway. The county took 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 late Middle Ages, but which was formerly used loosely for the region around the Oslofjord in the earlier middle ages.
History 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.
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.Telemark kan få nazi-navn, TA.no, 6 November 2017 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., "Viken og Innlandet: Amatørmessige logoer og uhistoriske navn" [Viken and Innlandet: Amateurish logos and unhistorical names], Aftenposten, 11 January 2020 Viken County decided that the interim county capital will be Oslo.
"Sannermandering" debate 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. 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".
Dissolution Viken county was widely perceived as lacking legitimacy, with an approval rating of 20% in the region, and was opposed by the former counties concerned. A common complaint was the inclusion of inland mountain areas like Ål and Hemsedal, which lack a cultural connection to the Oslofjord area. Another common complaint was 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. 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. The official governing platform of Viken county stated, "Viken is an ill-considered construction. The Storting has merged Akershus, Buskerud and Østfold against their will". It declared that the disestablishment of Viken was the main political goal of the county administration. For the same reason, the county council decided that it would not do anything to merge the counties in practice or establish a common county administration. Instead, the existing counties continued to function at their current locations in anticipation of their formal re-establishment.
In the 2021 parliamentary election, the parties that sought to dissolve Viken won a majority, and the Centre Party made the disestablishment of Viken a condition for participating in a new government. Immediately after the election, the county executive initiated the formal process to dissolve Viken.
Coat of arms 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".
Municipalities Viken County had a total of 51 municipalities, all created in 2020:List of Norwegian municipality numbers (Norwegian)List of municipality numbers of Norway (English)
Municipality No. Name Population on1 January 2020Statistics Norway (web). Former Municipality No. Former County3001Halden 31,3730101 HaldenØstfold3002Moss 49,2730104 Moss0136 Rygge3003Sarpsborg 56,7320105 Sarpsborg3004Fredrikstad 82,3850106 Fredrikstad3005Drammen 101,3860602 Drammen0625 Nedre EikerBuskerud0711 SvelvikVestfold3006Kongsberg 27,7230604 KongsbergBuskerud3007Ringerike 30,6410605 Ringerike3011Hvaler 4,6680111 HvalerØstfold3012Aremark 1,3250118 Aremark3013Marker 3,5950119 Marker3014 Indre Østfold 44,7920122 Trøgstad0123 Spydeberg0124 Askim0125 Eidsberg0138 Hobøl3015Skiptvet 3,8050127 Skiptvet3016Rakkestad 8,2550128 Rakkestad3017Råde 7,5080135 Råde3018 Våler 5,7360137 Våler3019Vestby 18,0420211 VestbyAkershus3020 Nordre Follo 59,2880213 Ski0217 Oppegård3021 Ås 20,4390214 Ås3022Frogn 15,8770215 Frogn3023Nesodden 19,6160216 Nesodden3024Bærum 127,7310219 Bærum3025Asker 94,4410220 Asker0627 Røyken0628 HurumBuskerud3026Aurskog-Høland 17,3900121 RømskogØstfold0222 Aurskog-HølandAkershus3027Rælingen 18,5300228 Rælingen3028Enebakk 11,1100229 Enebakk3029Lørenskog 41,4600230 Lørenskog3030 Lillestrøm 85,9830226 Sørum0227 Fet0231 Skedsmo3031Nittedal 24,2490233 Nittedal3032Gjerdrum 6,8900234 Gjerdrum3033Ullensaker 39,6250235 Ullensaker3034 Nes 23,0920236 Nes3035Eidsvoll 25,4360237 Eidsvoll3036Nannestad 14,1390238 Nannestad3037Hurdal 2,8540239 Hurdal3038Hole 6,7990612 HoleBuskerud3039Flå 1,0500615 Flå3040 Nesbyen 3,2730616 Nes3041Gol 4,6080617 Gol3042Hemsedal 2,4860618 Hemsedal3043Ål 4,6740619 Ål3044Hol 4,4410620 Hol3045Sigdal 3,4670621 Sigdal3046Krødsherad 2,2120622 Krødsherad3047Modum 14,1150623 Modum3048 Øvre Eiker 19,4230624 Øvre Eiker3049Lier 26,8110626 Lier3050Flesberg 2,6880631 Flesberg3051Rollag 1,3900632 Rollag3052 Nore og Uvdal 2,4390633 Nore og Uvdal3053Jevnaker 6,8520532 JevnakerOppland3054Lunner 9,0480533 Lunner
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