EUI - Caught in the middle: Experts on European Integration in the Norwegian Civil Service, 1960-1972

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Norway went through three harrowing struggles regarding its relationship with the European Communities in the 1960s. At the centre of Norway's contacts and negotiations with the EC stood a limited group of civil servants working with Norway's European pol icy, experts on European integration. The main goal of this thesis is to investigate the following statement: The expert's special competence and position, their connections abroad and at home and pivotal role in the negotiations between the EC and Norway provided them with a unique understanding of what was the best European policy for Norway. The thesis will be an empirical case-study using a classical diplomatic history approach theoretically informed by theories on networks, institutionalism and socia lization from the social sciences. The questions raised in this thesis are relevant beyond the Norwegian case as they address the question of how to define and prove administrative power. Several historians have pointed to the relevance of this topic, but no one has as of yet done a systematically study. There have also been many political science studies of this topic, but they lack the historical aspect.