Die konfliktfreie Union.Die Harmonieliberalen an der Macht 1860–1871

Abstract

A hundred years after the peaceful dissolution of the union between the kingdoms of Sweden and Norway, the public debate on this union is still dominated by the idea that the union was little more than another name for Swedish rule. This paper critiques this view by analysing the political systems of Sweden and Norway in the nineteenth century: the constitutional monarchy. The author does not deny that on a symbolic level, Norwegians were less visible than Swedes in the union. However, the paper's main argument is that in Realpolitik terms the two parts of the union were largely on par with each other. The dominant conflict in the union was not between Norwegians and Swedes, but rather an escalating power struggle between the king and ‘the people’ that led to the forty years of ‘harmony liberalism’. In fact, close collaboration rather than conflict characterised the relations between the liberal governments of Norway and Sweden, thus enabling them to establish a ‘union free of conflicts’ in the 1860s.