Comments by "Luredreier" (@Luredreier) on "What if Scandinavia United? How Powerful Would It Be?" video.

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  2. The problem would be the fundamental difference in interests. Denmark and Norway are more costal then Sweden is with all that entail. Sweden and Denmark are more continental then Norway is, with all that entail. There's a reason why Sweden and Denmark joined the EU and Norway and Iceland didn't. For Norway, Iceland and the Faero islands fishery and good relations with the current naval powers of the world takes priority over good relations with the continent. For Sweden and Denmark good relationship with the continent matters more then to us due to your geographical location. Norway is also a mountainous country and mountain people tend to be more independence minded in general, as you can see with the Switz, Norwegians and many other people of the world both currently and historically. We've also been the lesser part in a union a bit too often with all that entails and as a result we're even more consious about the drawbacks of not being in power of our own destiny. Something that is also reflected in how our country is structured. Not just around our capital but very much decentralized while Sweden has allowed its own rural communities die we've activly faught against centralization and for the power and prosperity of the rural areas. In part because of that land area counts about as much as population numbers when distributing parliamentary seats among the electoral circles. Your electoral systems also differ a bit from ours. In Norway there is no lower limit in terms of voters required to enter the parliament. If you have enough votes in a electoral circle to earn one of the 150 seats that directly represents the electoral circles then you'll get a seat no matter how few votes was required to achieve that. This makes it easier to create and run small political parties that can stay relevant politically. That said, like you we do have leveling seats. And you're required to have 4% of the votes nationally to be eligible to those leveling seats. There's also a difference in what number we use to modify the Sainte-Laguë method. Interestingly from what I've heard you've dropped yours down this year.
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