Heimevernet : the Pillar of Norway’s Defence Policy

The aim of this article is to analyse the organisation and functioning of Norwegian territorial defence (nor. Heimevernet) by showing its specificity and place in the national security system. The content of this study was intended to bring the reader closer to information on the functioning of this type of formation and answer the question posed during the research, that is, how does the territorial defence system work, which is connected to the entire defence system of the state in the military layer, i.e.: the organisational structure of the formation, the role of the formation in the national defence strategy, the organisation of the recruitment system and the training of candidates for service, as well as the civil level through the close cooperation of individual elements of the territorial organisation of military administration, Heimevernet territorial units with local government bodies at all levels in the Nordic strategic culture, and whether the conclusions of the study would provide a benchmark in the implementation of some solutions to the Polish concept of building a territorial defence system. This scientific article has been prepared on the basis of the available local literature on the Norwegian defence system, and on the basis of the research material collected in preparing the thesis.