Popular Struggle And Democracy In Scandinavia

This book focuses on popular struggles in Denmark, Norway and Sweden from 1700-2015, and how popular struggle in the form of hunger riots, tax rebellions, petition drives, strikes, demonstrations, public meetings and social movements paved the way for the introduction and development of civil liberties and political rights. The author portrays social and political mass mobilization of ordinary people as vital to the construction of democracy, and an essential condition for the formation of the Scandinavian welfare states. Popular Struggle and Democracy in Scandinavia shows the transnational connections between Denmark, Norway and Sweden and between Scandinavia and the rest of Europe, and also contains a comparison of popular struggle in Scandinavia seen in a wider European perspective. The book will be of interest to social scientists, historians and students and researchers with an interest in popular struggles in Scandinavia.

This companion volume to 'Scandinavian Politics Today' talks about the distinctive features of Scandinavian democracy, the state of Scandinavian democracy, and the classification of the Scandinavian democracies. It could serve as a textbook for courses on Scandinavian politics, legislative studies and comparative politics.

Providing a Nordic historical perspective, this collection aims to further our understanding of trade union activism and its role in modern society. Contributions from a range of leading scholars analyse the organisational conditions of mobilisation that were deployed by Nordic unionists, and explore the way that they interacted with other forms of social and political protest during the twentieth century. Covering illegal or so-called wildcat strikes, blockades, demonstrations and other activist measures, the authors examine the way that trade union activism in the Nordic countries aimed to move the political combat zone from the meeting rooms of the respective confederations into the streets and the public domain. The collection focuses on cases from Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland, but comparisons are also made with countries such as Iceland, Germany, and the USA. Exploring the ways in which political parties have intervened in Nordic trade union activism since the early twentieth century, this unique collection offers new insights for those interested in labour market dynamics and the complex process behind the formation of salary and employment conditions.

Major changes in citizenship and democracy have taken place in Scandinavia within the last two decades. Participation in conventional forms of politics has declined markedly, and the ability of institutions such as political parties and trade unions to deliver social mobility is being eroded. Instead, Scandinavians are turning towards single issue participation and 'small democracy' in the workplace or in public sector service institutions. The scenario is that of a 'spectator democracy' with engaged and conscious spectators who lack the long-term political commitment to engage actively in 'big democracy'. Also, Scandinavian citizenship is challenged by structural unemployment, EU membership, and immigration. This book deals with the details of these processes and in particular how they have affected political participation, identity and social polarization.

Major changes in citizenship and democracy have taken place in Scandinavia within the last two decades. Participation in conventional forms of politics has declined markedly, and the ability of institutions such as political parties and trade unions to deliver social mobility is being eroded. Instead, Scandinavians are turning towards single issue participation and 'small democracy' in the workplace or in public sector service institutions. The scenario is that of a 'spectator democracy' with engaged and conscious spectators who lack the long-term political commitment to engage actively in 'big democracy'. Also, Scandinavian citizenship is challenged by structural unemployment, EU membership, and immigration. This book deals with the details of these processes and in particular how they have affected political participation, identity and social polarization.

Providing a Nordic historical perspective, this collection aims to further our understanding of trade union activism and its role in modern society. Contributions from a range of leading scholars analyse the organisational conditions of mobilisation that were deployed by Nordic unionists, and explore the way that they interacted with other forms of social and political protest during the twentieth century. Covering illegal or so-called wildcat strikes, blockades, demonstrations and other activist measures, the authors examine the way that trade union activism in the Nordic countries aimed to move the political combat zone from the meeting rooms of the respective confederations into the streets and the public domain. The collection focuses on cases from Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland, but comparisons are also made with countries such as Iceland, Germany, and the USA. Exploring the ways in which political parties have intervened in Nordic trade union activism since the early twentieth century, this unique collection offers new insights for those interested in labour market dynamics and the complex process behind the formation of salary and employment conditions.

This open access book discusses the emergence and development, and in some cases also the disappearance, of social movements and activism in Sweden during the 1980s. Its aim is to nuance and problematize the image of the 1980s as unilaterally dominated by right-wing politics and neoliberalism, as well as the idea of a conflict-free Scandinavian model. The 1980s have often been described as a period when the influence of radical-left movements during the 1970s diminished. Instead, this book argues that the 1980s was a decade in which new radical social movements emerged in opposition to the prevalent political order, including the nuclear disarmament movement, the women's movement, anti-fascist movements, and the punk and environmental movements. The authors also demonstrate how issues such as squatting, nuclear resistance, rent strikes and the environment, included a variety of contentious collective action. Sweden, therefore, presents an interesting example of how resistance and conflict in a strong welfare state have been influenced by contentious social movements. Placing Sweden within the wider context of Scandinavia and Europe, this edited collection makes an important contribution to the history of social movements.

Mock funerals, effigy parading, smearing with eggs and tomatoes, pot-banging and Carnival street theatre, arson and ransacking: all these seemingly archaic forms of action have been regular features of modern European protest, from the 19th to the 21st century. In a wide chronological and geographical framework, this book analyses the uses, meanings, functions and reactivations of folk imagery, behaviour and language in modern collective action. The authors examine the role of protest actors as diverse as peasants, liberal movements, nationalist and separatist parties, anarchists, workers, students, right-wing activists and the global justice movement. So-called traditional repertoires have long been described as residual and obsolete. This book challenges the conventional distinction between pre-industrial and post-1789 forms of collective action, which continues to operate as a powerful dichotomy in the understanding of protest, and casts new light on rituals and symbolic performances that, albeit poorly understood and deciphered, are integral to our protest repertoire.