This article addresses the expansion of urban public services in major Nordic cities, from 1850 to 1920. We argue that changes in political discourse were the driving force that prompted politicians to act on behalf of the urban public, significantly before the rise of the universal welfare state. The discursive changes are explored through three analytic concepts: publicness, urban citizenship and the welfare city. We start by presenting a short overview of the development of urban public services. Then we demonstrate how these concepts may be used in conjunction to explain the historical changes. Finally, the material effects are discussed in three case-studies, addressing freshwater pipes, public transport and municipal health care, respectively.

This book deals with six critical junctures in early modern Sweden between 1500 and 1810, intense periods of change when the prevailing system of government was challenged and replaced by something different – a new political regime. Drawing on both history and the social sciences, this book presents a new interpretation of Sweden’s early modern political history. First, each critical juncture’s course of events is analysed, and key political actors’ incentives and motives are identified. The impact and effects of each regime shift are explained using three analytical key concepts: state capacity, impartiality, and political participation. Second, the various regime shifts are compared and the long-term effects of the early modern changes on state formation and democratization are discussed. How and in what ways did the turbulent changes in government affect Sweden’s subsequent development into a modern, democratic state?

Sweden’s conflict-ridden history is highly relevant for understanding the process of state formation in early modern Europe. In comparative studies, sixteenth-century Sweden is sometimes highlighted as a pioneer; a dynastic state that organized an efficient fiscal bureaucracy to finance military expansion. In other contexts, Sweden’s representative institutions of the eighteenth century have been an example of participatory or even proto-democratic forms of government. However, the two periods have rarely been compared to explain similarities and differences, or why the first period transformed into the second. This book takes a holistic approach to the period 1538–1810, explaining how and why the shifting regimes influenced political and social development.

The analysis shows the uneven character of the ongoing struggle between Sweden’s power elites and social groups demanding political inclusion. The ideal balance between a strong state and an organized society proved hard, if not impossible, to realize in the early modern period. Democratization in Sweden continued to be an uneven process well into the twentieth century.

Den här boken handlar om sex regimskiften i det tidigmoderna Sverige mellan 1500 och 1810, formativa moment då det rådande styrelseskicket utmanades och ersattes av något annat – en ny politisk regim. Med utgångspunkt i både historia och samhällsvetenskap presenteras en ny tolkning av Sveriges tidigmoderna politiska historia. Först analyseras händelseförloppet vid varje regimskifte och de viktigaste politiska aktörernas drivkrafter och motiv identifieras. Konsekvenserna och effekterna av varje regimskifte förklaras med hjälp av tre analytiska nyckelbegrepp: statskapacitet, opartiskhet och politiskt deltagande. Därefter jämförs de olika regimskiftena och dess långsiktiga effekter på statsbildning och demokratisering diskuteras. Hur och på vilka sätt påverkade de turbulenta regimskiftena Sveriges senare utveckling till en modern demokratisk stat?

Sveriges konfliktfyllda historia är relevant för att förstå statsbildningsprocessen i det tidigmoderna Europa. I komparativa studier lyfts 1500-talets Sverige fram som en pionjär; en dynastisk stat som organiserade en effektiv byråkrati för att finansiera militär expansion. I andra sammanhang har Sveriges representativa institutioner under 1700-talet varit ett exempel på politiskt deltagande eller till och med tidiga demokratiska reformer. De två perioderna har dock sällan jämförts för att förklara likheter och skillnader, eller varför den första perioden övergick i den andra. Boken Shifting regimes tar ett helhetsgrepp på perioden 1538–1810 och förklarar hur och varför de skiftande regimerna påverkade den politiska och sociala utvecklingen.

Analysen visar hur ojämn kampen mellan Sveriges makteliter och sociala grupper som krävde politisk inkludering var. Den ideala balansen mellan en stark stat och ett organiserat samhälle visade sig vara svår, för att inte säga omöjlig, att förverkliga under den tidigmoderna perioden. Demokratiseringen i Sverige fortsatte att vara en ojämn process långt in på nittonhundratalet.

The Swedish post office was founded in February 1636. Drawing on examples from continental Europe, the post office was established as a postal relay by which the mail was transported from one town to another. Like those all over Europe, the organized Swedish postal systems simplified economic and political exchange and made it easier to transport information and goods from one part of the continent to another. In the early seventeenth century, Sweden’s involvement in the Thirty Years’ War (1618–48) highlighted the need for regular information from the continent, and models for organizing a postal system were found on the European continent. In addition, the domestic debate over the abuse of the peasant farmers’ obligation to provide horses for the transportation of nobles and royal messengers also contributed to the establishment of the post office. The latter was seen as a means to counteract widespread abuse. The Swedish post office, however, differed in two significant ways from its European sister organizations. First, the Swedish post office was the post of the Swedish state and eventually became an integrated part of the state administration. The organization was created to serve the needs of the state bureaucracy. Second, the Swedish postal routes were manned by allotted peasant farmers, so called postbönder [post-peasants]. These peasants were given exemptions from taxation and conscription as compensation for their work. On the continent, the postal relays were usually manned by hired personnel, namely people employed by the postal organization. The Swedish choice of an infrastructure built on peasants is explained by the limited capacity and rudimentary organization of the state administration. The postbönder were the backbone of the Swedish post office until the 1870s.

This book examines Nordic cities from 1850 and their transformation from traditional, oligarchic towns to modern, inclusive welfare cities.

In the contemporary world, the role of cities as hotbeds for progressive change has become increasingly topical. Historical studies on how Nordic cities addressed social and environmental questions a hundred years ago and how they eventually created new and inclusive policies for the future is a useful contribution to the current debate. The concept of the welfare city is addressed and elaborated upon to analyse the attempts by urban authorities to solve the problems following industrialization and urbanization. From the late nineteenth century, municipal public services promoted the integration of new groups in the urban community including workers, immigrants, women and children. The contributions in this book analyse various examples of welfare and public services that include infrastructure and transport systems, health care, housing conditions, outdoor life and entertainment. The chapters highlight the arguments and considerations promoting welfare policies, while also addressing differences between the Nordic countries. The evolution of the Nordic welfare city was a process of several overlapping phases or dimensions.

An important conclusion of this book is that the evolution of the Nordic welfare city was a process of several overlapping phases or dimensions. This chapter suggest that this development should be interpreted as a succession of different types of welfare cities with specific characteristics; the patriarchal, the economic, the social, the universal, and the neoliberal welfare city. The model covers the whole period from c. 1850 to the present, addressing municipal organization as well as political regimes. We also contend that it was not material infrastructure by itself, but rather the ongoing contestation and negotiation over a plethora of various welfare services that eventually contributed to a widening and strengthening of urban citizenship. The types of welfare cities suggested thus represent different outcomes from the ongoing struggle over material and cultural networks, involving paupers as well as politicians and professional experts.

This introductory chapter argues for the use of the concept of ‘welfare city’ to understand and explain the development of modern public services and welfare systems. Previous research has hitherto put too much emphasis on the welfare state and on the period after 1945. This book calls for a shift in perspective, from the national level, to the local level, as well as a focus on the decisive period 1850–1940. Urban areas and cites were of paramount importance for the establishment of public services and welfare systems. The analytical framework deployed in this book, therefore, places urban politics in front of national politics and shifts the chronological focus to an earlier period in time. This theme and its adjacent argument are explored through studies of the Nordic countries. The chapters contain various examples on welfare and public services that includes infrastructure and housing projects, but also health care, education, outdoor life and entertainment. Together, the contributing authors claims that it is necessary to analyse local politics in order to explain the discursive changes that paved the way for a wave of investments in public services and social welfare in the period.