Northern Neighbours ─ Scotland and Norway Since 1800

How did the development of two small countries at the north of Europe, whose histories were joined from about the year 795 AD - including a 300-year alliance - nevertheless diverge sharply in the modern era?

This edited collection of essays covers various elements of this analysis including land ownership, politics, agriculture, industry, money and banking, local government, education, religion, access and the outdoor life, as well as several more synthetic chapters. Written as it is by historians, political scientists, economists, sociologists, anthropologists and human geographers, the book moves beyond historical narrative, and outlines elements of a theory of divergent development between Norway and Scotland over the long term, and so towards a novel history which will be of interest to a wider audience.

John Bryden is a Political Economist. He is Emeritus Professor of Human Geography at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland and has worked as research professor with the Norwegian Agricultural Economics Research Institute since 2008. John has been a Government advisor, and was external advisor to the Scottish Land Reform Policy Group. He has been visiting scholar at the Universities of Guelph, Cornell, Missouri-Colombia, and Pretoria as well as at the Centre for Development Studies in Kerala, India, and at the University of Pretoria.

Ottar Brox is a former professor of sociology and planning at the University of Tromso, and Senior Researcher, Norwegian Institute of Urban and Regional Research. He has published about 25 books, most of them in Norwegian, on community and regional development, rural industries and immigration. He has also served as a member of the Norwegian Parliament and the Oslo City Council.

Lesley Riddoch is one of Scotland's best known commentators and broadcasters. She won two SONY awards for radio programmes with BBC Scotland, presented Radio 4's You & Yours and BBC 2's Midnight Hour. Lesley was assistant editor of The Scotsman and Contributing Editor of the Sunday Herald. She's a regular Scotsman columnist, co-founder of the policy group Nordic Horizons and author of Blossom - What Scotland Needs to Flourish.