Editing History of Norway (section)

==Postwar==
===1945–1950===
A [[legal purge in Norway after World War II|legal purge took place in Norway after WWII]] in which 53,000 people were sentenced for [[treason]] and 25 were executed.<ref name="s130" /> The post-war years saw an increased interest in [[Scandinavism]], resulting in [[Scandinavian Airlines System]] in 1946, the [[Nordic Council]] in 1952<ref name="s143">Stenersen: 143</ref> and the [[Nordic Passport Union]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.norden.org/en/about-nordic-co-operation/agreements/treaties-and-agreements/passport-issues-citizenship-and-national-registration |title=Passport Issues, Citizenship and National Registration |publisher=[[Nordic Council]] |access-date=20 November 2012 |archive-date=18 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120318061342/http://www.norden.org/en/about-nordic-co-operation/agreements/treaties-and-agreements/passport-issues-citizenship-and-national-registration |url-status=dead}}</ref> along with the [[metric system]] being introduced.<ref name="Thuesen: 224" /> Reconstruction after the war gave Norway the highest economic growth in Europe until 1950, partly created through [[rationing]] private consumption allowing for higher industrial investments. The Labor Party retained power throughout the period and maintained a policy of public planning.<ref name="s134">Stenersen: 134</ref> The [[University of Bergen]] was created in 1946.<ref>Thuesen: 335</ref> The 1950s saw a boom in construction of hydroelectricity<ref>Stenersen: 137</ref> and the state built the steel mill [[Norsk Jernverk]] and [[Årdal og Sunndal Verk|two aluminum works]].<ref>Stenersen: 135</ref> State banks such as the [[Norwegian State Housing Bank|State Housing Bank]], the [[Norwegian State Educational Loan Fund|State Educational Loan Fund]] and [[Postbanken]] allowed for governmental control over private debt. Oslo hosted the [[1952 Winter Olympics]].<ref name="s138">Stenersen: 138</ref>

Norway retained its neutrality policy until 1947, focusing on its membership in the United Nations,<ref name="s140">Stenersen: 140</ref> where [[Trygve Lie]] had become the first [[Secretary-General of the United Nations|secretary-general]].<ref>Thuesen: 334</ref> However, there was no enthusiasm for the UN at the time.<ref>{{Cite journal |doi=10.1080/09592290903455741 |title=The Absent-Minded Founder: Norway and the Establishment of the United Nations |journal=Diplomacy & Statecraft |volume=20 |issue=4 |pages=619–637 |year=2009 |last1=Götz |first1=Norbert |s2cid=153680303}}</ref> Anti-communism grew with a Soviet proposal for joint control over Svalbard and especially after the [[1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état]], after which the Communist Party lost all influence.<ref name="s140" /> Norway started negotiations for the creation of a [[Scandinavian defense union]], but instead opted to become a founding member of the [[North Atlantic Treaty Organization]] (NATO). However, Norway never allowed permanently stationed foreign troops or nuclear weapons on Norwegian soil to avoid agitating the Soviet Union, with which Norway from 1944 [[Norway–Russia border|shared a land border]].<ref>Stenersen: 141</ref> NATO financed large parts of the Norwegian military investments, which ultimately resulted in numerous airports being built during the 1950s and 1960s.<ref>Malmø: 66</ref>

===Marshall Plan===
Norway joined the [[Marshall Plan]] ("ERP") in 1947, receiving US$400&nbsp;million in American support.<ref name="s134" /> Given the business background of the Marshall Plan's American leaders, their readiness to work with the Norwegian Labor government's ERP Council disappointed the conservative Norwegian business community. It was represented by the major business organizations, the Norges Industriforbund and the Norsk Arbeidsgiverforening. While reluctant to work with the government, Norwegian business leaders also recognized the dangers of appearing to obstruct the implementation of the Marshall Plan. American acceptance of a role for government in economic planning reflected their [[New Deal]] reformist orientation. The opportunities for mediation between conservative Norwegian business interests and the government that arose in the course of administering the Marshall Plan helped establish a base for the emergence of Norwegian corporatism in the 1950s.<ref>Kai R. Pedersen, "Norwegian Business and the Marshall Plan, 1947–1952." ''Scandinavian Journal of History'' 1996 21(4): 285–301. ISSN 0346-8755</ref>

=== 1950 to 1972 ===
[[File:Old trondheim early morning.jpg|thumb|left|[[Trondheim]] in 1965]]
The sale of cars was deregulated in October 1960, and in the same year the [[Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation]] introduced Norway's first television broadcasts.<ref name="s145">Stenersen: 145</ref> Norway feared competition from Swedish industry and Danish agriculture and chose not to join any free trade organizations until 1960, when it joined the [[European Free Trade Association]].<ref>Stenersen: 142</ref> Throughout the post-war period both fishing and agriculture became more mechanized, the agricultural subsidies rose to the third-highest in the world and the number of small-scale farms and fishermen fell dramatically.<ref>Stenersen: 148</ref> The [[Socialist People's Party (Norway)|Socialist People's Party]] was created in 1961 by former Labor politicians who disagreed with the Labor Party's NATO, nuclear and European policies.<ref name="s143" /> Following the [[Kings Bay Affair]] the Conservative [[Lyng's Cabinet]] ruled for a month.<ref>Stenersen: 146</ref> The Conservative coalition [[Borten's Cabinet]] won the [[1965 Norwegian parliamentary election|1965 election]], sat for six years and started a trend of shifting Labor and Conservative governments.<ref>Stenersen: 147</ref> Norwegianization of Samis halted after the war and Sami rights became an increasing issue, with a council being established in 1964.<ref>Stenersen: 163</ref>

The completion of the [[Nordland Line]] to [[Bodø (town)|Bodø]] in 1962 concluded the construction of new railway routes,<ref name="railway" /> while the first part of the [[Oslo Metro]] opened in 1966.<ref>Thuesen: 370</ref> A social security net was gradually introduced after the war, with child allowances introduced in 1946 and the Social Care Act introduced in 1964.<ref name="s138" /> The 1960s saw good times for heavy industry and Norway became Europe's largest exporter of aluminum and the world's largest exporter of [[ferroalloy]]s.<ref name="s145" /> The [[University of Trondheim]] and the [[University of Tromsø]] both opened in 1968, one year before a network of regional colleges started being opened. Influenced by American culture and similar actions abroad, youth and students started to rebel against cultural norms.<ref>Stenersen: 149</ref> The 1960s saw an increased focus on environmentalism, especially through activism, based on ever-more conversion of waterfalls to hydro stations, pollution and the dilapidation of herring stocks. [[Rondane National Park]] was created as the country's first in 1962 and the [[Ministry of the Environment (Norway)|Ministry of the Environment]] was the first in the world when it was established in 1972.<ref>Stenersen: 151</ref> A network of regional airports were built in Western and Northern Norway in the late 1960s and early 1970s.<ref>Malmø: 67</ref> Membership in the [[European Economic Community]] was rejected in a [[1972 Norwegian European Communities membership referendum|1972 referendum]].<ref>Stenersen: 152</ref>