This chapter argues that the concept of state building from below may be used as an analytical tool for better understanding of political and social relations in the era before industrialisation. In the Nordic countries, the discussion about the state building process in the 1980s and 1990s produced two conflicting narratives. The early modern period produced new repertoires for collective action and political agency. While this long-term perspective is perfectly valid, we argue that the concept of state building is more relevant for our focus on interactions at the micro level. Erling Sandmo has argued that early modern society should be analysed as a permanent public sphere, where ordinary people interacted with each other on a day-to-day basis. State territory was not a uniform entity but rather a fluctuating space full of ‘holes’ – places and spaces where central control was missing or totally dependent on local agents and institutions.