How appropriate is the cleavage model in explaining Norwegian voting behaviour from 1945 to 1997?

To what extent can Stein Rokkan and Henry Valen's cleavage model explain No rwegian voting behaviour from 1945 to 1997? Originally the model was formul ated in the early 1960s. As a consequence of various structural changes the explanatory strength of the model has declined. Special emphasis is laid o n the three counter-cultures. Their diminishing support is obvious, and the decline is most pronounced in the old stronghold area of the counter-cultu res, the countryside in the southwestern part of Norway. This observation r eflects the trend towards cultural standardisation, which in the next phase has been conducive to deregionalization of the party vote. Paradoxically i n spite of this development the exponent of the counter-cultures - the Chri stian People's Party - has been an electoral winner in the 1990s. According to one interpretation, however, the weakening of the counter-cultures has eased the party's transformation to a more regular European Christian Democ ratic Party. As the party is no longer so heavily dependent upon support fr om the counter-cultures, its electoral appeal has been culturally broadened . In sum, this reflects that the cleavage model does not fit the voting pat tern so well. In addition to the territorial-cultural. axis the cleavage model consists o f the functional-economic axis, which is based on the conflict in the labou r market and the conflict in the commodity market. Both the manual workers (cf. labour market) and the farmers (cf. commodity market) have weakened th eir position in the labour force, and the electoral base of Labour and the Centre Party, the former Farmer's Party, have been clearly more social hete rogeneous. One more indication that the expectations drawn from the cleavag e model often are at odds with the actual voting behaviour.