Viken (county)


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.
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 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 and Østfold as Øst-Viken. 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 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 seek 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 cap" and is "a logo, not a heraldic coat of arms".

Municipalities

Viken County had a total of 51 municipalities, all created in 2020:
Municipality No.NamePopulation on
1 January 2020		Former Municipality No.Former County
3001Halden31,3730101 HaldenØstfold
3002Moss49,2730104 Moss
0136 Rygge		Østfold
3003Sarpsborg56,7320105 SarpsborgØstfold
3004Fredrikstad82,3850106 FredrikstadØstfold
3005Drammen101,3860602 Drammen
0625 Nedre Eiker		Buskerud
3005Drammen101,3860711 SvelvikVestfold
3006Kongsberg27,7230604 KongsbergBuskerud
3007Ringerike30,6410605 RingerikeBuskerud
3011Hvaler4,6680111 HvalerØstfold
3012Aremark1,3250118 AremarkØstfold
3013Marker3,5950119 MarkerØstfold
3014Indre Østfold44,7920122 Trøgstad
0123 Spydeberg
0124 Askim
0125 Eidsberg
0138 Hobøl		Østfold
3015Skiptvet3,8050127 SkiptvetØstfold
3016Rakkestad8,2550128 RakkestadØstfold
3017Råde7,5080135 RådeØstfold
3018Våler5,7360137 VålerØstfold
3019Vestby18,0420211 VestbyAkershus
3020Nordre Follo59,2880213 Ski
0217 Oppegård		Akershus
3021Ås20,4390214 ÅsAkershus
3022Frogn15,8770215 FrognAkershus
3023Nesodden19,6160216 NesoddenAkershus
3024Bærum127,7310219 BærumAkershus
3025Asker94,4410220 AskerAkershus
3025Asker94,4410627 Røyken
0628 Hurum		Buskerud
3026Aurskog-Høland17,3900121 RømskogØstfold
3026Aurskog-Høland17,3900222 Aurskog-HølandAkershus
3027Rælingen18,5300228 RælingenAkershus
3028Enebakk11,1100229 EnebakkAkershus
3029Lørenskog41,4600230 LørenskogAkershus
3030Lillestrøm85,9830226 Sørum
0227 Fet
0231 Skedsmo		Akershus
3031Nittedal24,2490233 NittedalAkershus
3032Gjerdrum6,8900234 GjerdrumAkershus
3033Ullensaker39,6250235 UllensakerAkershus
3034Nes23,0920236 NesAkershus
3035Eidsvoll25,4360237 EidsvollAkershus
3036Nannestad14,1390238 NannestadAkershus
3037Hurdal2,8540239 HurdalAkershus
3038Hole6,7990612 HoleBuskerud
3039Flå1,0500615 FlåBuskerud
3040Nesbyen3,2730616 NesBuskerud
3041Gol4,6080617 GolBuskerud
3042Hemsedal2,4860618 HemsedalBuskerud
3043Ål4,6740619 ÅlBuskerud
3044Hol4,4410620 HolBuskerud
3045Sigdal3,4670621 SigdalBuskerud
3046Krødsherad2,2120622 KrødsheradBuskerud
3047Modum14,1150623 ModumBuskerud
3048Øvre Eiker19,4230624 Øvre EikerBuskerud
3049Lier26,8110626 LierBuskerud
3050Flesberg2,6880631 FlesbergBuskerud
3051Rollag1,3900632 RollagBuskerud
3052Nore og Uvdal2,4390633 Nore og UvdalBuskerud
3053Jevnaker6,8520532 JevnakerOppland
3054Lunner9,0480533 LunnerOppland