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How, and in what ways, could early modern state formation have promoted the development of modern democratic institutions? The research project Shifting Regimes: Representation, Administrative Reform and Institutional Change in Early Modern Sweden propose to answer this question by studying the interaction between the political and the administrative spheres during regime shifts in Sweden, c. 1527–1810. The wider purpose is to analyze the agency behind institutional change by comparing the actions of political leaders with those of major administrative bodies. To study how key decision-makers acted to influence the organization of the state the project will focus on several "critical junctures", or periods when the Swedish state experienced substantial change in a relatively short time. This paper presents preliminary findings from one of the case studies in the larger project: the political regime shift and its consequences in 1765–1766. The case study applies the concept of 'state capacity' to give a theoretical explanation for the regime changes in Sweden in the mid 1760s. ; Shifting Regimes: Representation, administrative reform and institutional change in early modern Sweden

A typical trait of the fiscal system of the ancien régime was the farming out of state revenue, most often represented by England and France. This article contributes to the ongoing discussion on the articulation of political economy and discourses on private and public organization in the early modern period, using the Swedish Riksdag as the focal point. Furthermore, it adds to historical research on private organizations for the operation of public services, and to a theoretical discussion on institutional development in the early modern period. In this article the Swedish General Customs Lease Company (Generaltullarren-desocieteten) 1723–65 is used as an example, arguing that Sweden represents an alternative model for the organization of revenue collection in early modern Europe; demonstrating that the General Customs Lease Company includes characteristics found both in England and in France. The analysis focuses on the political level, using parliamentary debates about the organization of the customs service. Thus, the explanation pays close attention to arguments wielded in favour, or against, farming out state revenue to private individuals. The political debates show an increasing critique against the large profits made by the shareholders in the Customs Company, as well as condemnations against the Customs Company for promoting self-interest at the expense of the common good.

The Swedish state and its administrative organization experienced, like its European neighbours, an extensive development and transformation in the beginning of the 17th century. One part of the administration that for the first time was organised in a formal way was the postal services. This paper discuss the origins of national postal systems in relation to the development of bureaucratic and administrative state organizations. I argue that an organised postal system is of fundamental importance for the growth of the states administrative organization. The circumstances in Sweden suit well for this purpose. Sweden had grown into a co-actor in European politics at the end of the Thirty Years' War.

AbstractThis article analyses the inherent conflict between public and private interest from a long time-perspective, using the example of Sweden from 1620 to 2000. The main argument is that there have been two equally decisive historical shifts in the political discourse on how to organize public services in the past: First, a shift from an early modern patriarchal discourse to a more expansive articulation of publicness during the nineteenth century. Second, a shift toward privatization and deregulation in the late twentieth century. Both these shifts must be considered to fully explain the changing forms of public organization up to the present day. Theoretically, the concept of "publicness" is used to explain the political discourses on the organization of public services. Drawing on three discursive chains, the argument is that the political development was affected by the politicians' conception of the political community, the form of organization, and by perceptions of values such as equal access and modernity. Our results demonstrate how and why political arguments for or against private service providers have motivated profound changes in the way public services are perceived of and organized.

From the mid-nineteenth century and onwards, debates on urban public services became an integral part of municipal politics in Nordic towns. The industrial revolution came late in Nordic countries and the problem of how to integrate immigrants and factory workers into existing networks became paramount at the end of the century. This paper will discuss how municipal bodies tackled the problem of making the city accessible to new groups in the urban landscape. New forms of infrastructure had been introduced by private initiative: water, gas, electricity, tramways etc. In city councils and popular press, proponents of equal access argued that such services should be controlled and provided by municipal bodies. Their adversaries claimed that business operations were better run by private companies, and that municipal takeovers would only mean a larger burden for the tax-payers. The debates on how to improve and extend the reach of public services articulated new notions of community. The daily lives of women, children and the urban poor became a contested issue, and a new field for political solutions. Eventually, a future-oriented discourse became dominant where the solutions for today were expected to solve the problems of tomorrow as well. ; Egenintresset och det gemensamma bästa

This article explores political conflicts about the organisation of public services in Sweden c. 1900–1920. The authors argue that political decisions play a vital role in shaping the political economy of public services. The case studies analysed are the political debates about the communalisation of the tramway system in Stockholm, and the nationalisation of Sweden's last private telephone company. In both cases, the transfer of the service to public organisation was a lengthy process, ending in the late 1910s. This is explained using the concept of publicness. Drawing on three discursive chains, the argument is that the political development was affected by the politicians conception of the political community, the form of organisation and by perceptions of values such as equal access and modernity. In the case of the tramways, public organisation was seen as the best option to defend the public against corruption and self-interest. In the case of the telephones, free market competition was seen as a guarantee for an efficient and cost- effective service. The reason for this difference, is argued, was that the debate on the tramways articulated a clearer notion of publicness, where equal access and public opinion carried larger weight.

This paper addresses political conflict over the organisation of public services in Sweden at the turn of the century, c. 1900. It's part of a research project where we analyse similar discussions from the mid-seventeenth to the late twentieth century (Hallenberg & Linnarsson, 2016). Our starting point is that the organisation of public services is a political as well as an economical problem. In the paper we will demonstrate how the commercial restructuring of urban space challenged conservative notions of the common good as well as modern views of social reform and publicness. The modernization of public transport and telecommunications offered new possibilities for urban planning and extending the public sphere. The paper argues that political decisions played a vital role in shaping the management of public services. Discussions over who has the right to organise the common good has remained a leading trope in European history to this day, which makes it all the more important to see how political discourse on this subject have developed and changed over time. ; Egenintresset och det gemensamma bästa