1 / 14

State and Civil Society in Northern Europe Lectures for MISP January 27-28, 2010

State and Civil Society in Northern Europe Lectures for MISP January 27-28, 2010. Docente Mats Rolén. In brief – basic facts. Two becomes five. 1807 – The agreement in Tilsit between Tsar Alexander and Emperor Napoleon

evania
Download Presentation

State and Civil Society in Northern Europe Lectures for MISP January 27-28, 2010

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. State and Civil Society in Northern EuropeLectures for MISPJanuary 27-28, 2010 Docente Mats Rolén

  2. In brief – basic facts

  3. Two becomes five • 1807 – The agreement in Tilsit between Tsar Alexander and Emperor Napoleon • 1808/09 Russia attacks Sweden. Gets Finland that becomes a russian Grand Duchy, but keeps the Swedish Law (until 1963!) • 1812 Sweden joins the enemies of Napoleon and gets Norway 1814 as conpensation • 1815 the new boarders confirmed in Vienna

  4. …but the road was troublesome • 1849, 1863-64 Denmark is defeated by Preussia. Loses Slesvig county…but gets a part of it back 1920 (after WW I) • 1905 A peaceful breaking up of the union between Norway and Sweden • 1917 Finland declares independece from Russia; follows by civil war 1918 • 1939 Finland is attacked by the Soviet-Union; the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact

  5. 1940 Germany occupies Denmark and Norway until May 1945 • 1941 Finland supports German attack on Soviet; cease-fire 1944 • 1944 June 6, D-Day • End of WW II in Europe, May 9 • Denmark, Norway and Iceland joins NATO 1949, Sweden and Finland stay neutral, but Finland is under Soviet pressure until the 1980’s. • 1989 The fall of the Berlin wall • Denmark (1973), Finland and Sweden (1995) become members of the EU

  6. Milestones in politics • Sweden loses Finland 1809; revolution and dethronement of the King; new constitution; election of field marshall Bernadotte of France as crown prince • 1814 Norway claims independence from Denmark, but is forced into a union with Sweden (-1905) • 1840-60’s liberal reforms in business and the public sphere; freedom of belief • 1866 A modern two-chamber parliament • 1914-18 Political and ”public” struggles for universal sufferage and parlamentarism; the revolutionary era

  7. 1921 First elections with universal sufferage; liberals and socialists gains a lot • 1971 Parlamentary reform: One Chamber • 1974 New constitution: The king gets a symbolic role; ”master of ceremonies” and PR • 1995 Sweden member of the EU

  8. The Popular Movements – one part of the making of modern Sweden • 1850-1920 transformation of the traditional society; from ”Gemeinschaft to Gesellschaft”; Sweden becomes a class society • Strong population growth, especially in rural areas; mass-emigration to USA 1860-1930 (ca 1,5 mill.) • 1840-70 end of proto-industrial era, industrialisation starts; forest-industries, mines, private and state investments in infrasystems • Fast urbanisation • The Popular Movements – the free church movement, the temperance movement and the labour movement; protest movements but also progressive driving forces in the modernisation process

  9. Socital context • From Vertical: God, Church, King, Father-Son, Master-Servant • …to Horisontal Solidarity: In the congregation, the lodge and the trade union • The new movements represented or offered democracy in an un-democratic society (before the 1920’s)

  10. Chronolgy • Free churches, started 1840-70, maximum ca 1910 • The Temperance Movement (an import from the US!), maximum 1920-30’s • The labour movement started ca 1880, very strong after 1910; still the strongest movement • The popular movements gradually influenced the public political life and played important roles in the struggle for political reforms 1900-20

  11. After the universal suffrage… • Sweden has since the 1920’s high voting rates in political elections. Still (2006) over 80 %. • The Popular Movements (SAP) has played a big role and took (some claim) control over the state for many decades • All parties and PM’s now have lost a lot of their members. But does this also relflect less interest for peoples engagement in civil society? • More one-issue activities! Sports and culture. • Are young people socialised and engaged in democratic work? • What do we care about today?

  12. The welfare state and the civil society • The strong welfare system (Gidden’s: The North European Model) has been SAP’s key element since the 1930’s, especially after 1950. Strong economic growth and high taxes – up to mid 1970’s – allowed for big public investments in health care, schools, social security, infrasystems etc. • Philantrophy hardly visible in the public debate during the 20th century (but existed according to Lars Svedberg et al.) • The labour movement was the architect of the ”peoples home” and still is its strongest guardian • And what do we see between the public sector and the market? Why all this ”new” talk about a civil society – also in Sweden? A help to the state/public sphere? • But then came the financial crisis…

More Related