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NorwayThough Norway is a monarchy, the Monarch is a figurehead and the real power rests with the Prime minister and the government.
There is an executive made up of the Prime minister and Government Ministers (regjering). These do not sit in the legislature (storting) which is the equivalent of parliament. There is also a Judicial branch (the courts) and these are again independent, unlike in the UK where they sit as part of the legislature.
The government is selected by obtaining a majority in the Storting, or at least the support of the Storting, the government almost always has the support of the legislature. In general there tend to be coalition governments due to the electoral system which is based on proportional representation from the Fylker level. The number of seats in each Fylke is based on the population and land size, giving slightly more weight to the rural areas and the North, though this doesn't result in more say due to the concentration of population in 4-6 areas.
As the country is small all politics tend to be local. The prime minister and other government ministers regularly go into the news studios to be interviewed on the main news, far more than in the UK. It's easy to get in touch with politicians, in fact they give you a contact number for the prime ministers office, Jens Stoltenberg, the Prime Minister.
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