The Development of Norwegian Prostitution Policies: A Marriage of Convenience Between Pragmatism and Principles

The article describes and analyzes debates on prostitution policies in Norway from 1970 until the introduction of a ban against
the purchase of sexual services in 2009. Throughout these decades, it has varied whether prostitution as such, that is in principle, has been considered a problem and if so, whether it has been seen as predominantly a legal or a social problem. In some
periods, only particular forms of prostitution have been considered problematic, while prostitution as such has not been considered
in need of legal intervention. In other periods, prostitution per se has been considered the problem, and in these periods
attempts to differentiate between different forms of prostitution have been resisted. The coming together of the pragmatic
and principled concerns of various political actors was an important reason for the actual passing of the legal reform criminalizing
the purchase of sexual services. The effective coming together of principled and practical concerns must be simultaneously
understood in the context of other developments, both locally, nationally, and internationally.