A new commentary in Liberaleren by Bjørn Magne Solvik takes aim at a proposal from three Christian Democratic Party MPs to make a preparedness course compulsory for everyone of conscription age who does not complete initial military service. The proposal was formally submitted to the Storting on April 14, 2026, and asks the government to prepare a plan covering the course’s content, organisation, costs, and legal basis.

That would mean a new coercive scheme affecting many, many thousands of young people. I sometimes wonder where politicians get their ideas from. It is possible that some proposals sound sensible over a few beers, but they have dramatic consequences if they become actual policy. A mandatory preparedness course for thousands of young people would cost billions of kroner, financed by taxes and levies. It would also be a serious intrusion on young people’s freedom. What is the Storting supposed to do with young people who do not want to complete the course? Put them in prison? Norway, after all, has a tradition of imprisonment when it comes to conscription.

The cost-benefit ratio of coercion is low, which is one reason Norway in recent decades has scaled back military initial service and reduced the number of conscripts.

What we should be able to expect from members of parliament is that when they propose coercive schemes costing billions of kroner, the proposal should also say where costs will be cut and which coercive measures will be reduced. If everything is to be mandatory, we will eventually live lives in which the most important decisions have been made for us by others.

Read the entire piece in Liberaleren.

Indeed, Norway’s conscription is significantly coercive. In our latest policy paper, we discussed how men in Norway are subjected to abusive pay, public humiliation, and repeated collective punishment. They also face censorship and repercussions for talking to the media about abuse.