| 1. |
- Olsson, Magnus, 1977-, et al.
(författare)
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Postal Round Trip to Amsterdam : The private entrepreneurship within the Swedish postal organization in 1716
- 2009
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Ingår i: Ajalooline Ajakiri – The Estonian Historical Journal. - 1406-3859. ; 129/130:3/4, s. 493-507
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article is a case study of the organization of the Swedish postal route to Europe in 1716. In the winter of 1715, the Swedish Baltic Empire lay in ruins and when the Swedish King Charles XII landed in Ystad, in the south of Sweden, he had many problems to deal with. One of the most urgent ones was to establish a postal route to the rest of Europe. During the war the traditional Swedish postal route via Denmark was stopped by the Danes, and it was difficult for the Swedish mail to reach the European continent. The king and the state administration therefore run the risk of informational isolation.In 1716, the correspondence was sent via a postal route by sea between Gothenburg (Göteborg), on the Swedish west coast, and Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. The administration of the postal traffic was given to a private consortium of eight merchants. With privilege from the king, they were given full responsibility for the single postal route from Sweden to the rest of the world in 1716.This article shows that it is plausible to view the entrepreneurial postal route in 1716 as an illustration of the change in the Swedish economic and organizational policy in the latter part of Charles XII’s reign. From the 1680s, the Swedish economic policy had been designed to concentrate resources in the hands of the Crown. Charles XI built up a state bureaucracy that controlled the means of the state. This resulted in a system where the Crown supervised and organized most of the resources in the kingdom. Following the wars in the early 1700s, this system broke down and the Swedish leadership sought to get hold of more money with the help of private merchants. The use of private capital for financing state affairs was common in Sweden, and other European states, in the first half of the 1600s. The method of using private entrepreneurs for the organization of the postal route, is therefore an example of the reorientation of economic thinking in the Swedish state administration. This resulted in a policy that, in a more direct way, tried to engage private merchants and entrepreneurs in the financing of state affairs. The article shows how this policy, in one way, was a return to an older form of financing state affairs.
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| 2. |
- Hallenberg, Mats, 1962-, et al.
(författare)
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The quest for publicness : political conflict about the organisation of tramways and telecommunication in Sweden, c. 1900–1920
- 2017
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Economic History Review. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0358-5522 .- 1750-2837. ; 65:1, s. 70-87
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- 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.
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| 3. |
- Hallenberg, Mats, 1962-, et al.
(författare)
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Towns go public : Urban services and the broadening ofurban communities in Scandinavia 1850–1920
- 2018
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- 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.
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| 4. |
- Hallenberg, Mats, 1962-, et al.
(författare)
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Vem tar bäst hand om det allmänna? : Politiska konflikter om privata och offentliga utförare 1720–1860
- 2016
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Ingår i: Historisk Tidskrift. - 0345-469X .- 2002-4827. ; 136:1, s. 32-63
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article explores four political debates in the Swedish diet and among the ruling elite in Stockholm on the organization of public services. The results demonstrate how in different ways notions of the common good permeated the discourse on all occasions.When the Swedish government tried to initiate public street lightning in Stockholm in 1749, there was a broad consensus among government and city officials that this should be done by the creation of a municipal organization financed by tax income. The burghers of Stockholm, however, opposed the proposal and argued that they were themselves better suited to care for the streetlights. The common good should be provided by individual action of responsible, male householders. Eventually the burghers got the upper hand and public street lightning continued to be organized by private initiative until the mid-nineteenth century.When in the 1720s the Swedish diet discussed the lease of custom duties by a merchant consortium (Sw. generaltullarrendesocieteten), the problem of corruption emerged as the bone of contention. Proponents claimed that this form of private enterprise was an effective means to suppress widespread corruption among state officials. Their opponents argued to the contrary that private leaseholders would skim off the profits for themselves, thereby depriving the state of its income.In the mid-eighteenth century the city authorities in Stockholm debated whether the emptying of latrines should remain an individual concern or if it should be recognized as a public matter. The city officials at first decided that this task was indeed a matter of public concern that should be handled by private entrepreneurs. Within a few years they had changed their minds, however, proposing instead that a new communal organization should be created for the removal of city waste. By now, the ruling elite of Stockholm had begun to identify the common good with municipal direction.The development of railway infrastructure was a hotly debated subject in the Swedish diet of the 1850s. Some representatives argued that private entrepreneurs would provide more cost-effective solutions than publicly managed railways, while others claimed that the state must administer a national system of railways. In the debate, private self-interest was juxtaposed with equal access to the common good. The proponents of state intervention claimed that national concerns must have priority over financial gain, and this argument would eventually influence the final decision.By the middle of the nineteenth century there was a growing consensus among the ruling elites in Sweden that the common good could best be provided for by state or municipal initiative. In the debates, arguments about organizational efficiency and equal access to public services eventually won out over notions of individual responsibility and private enterprise as a better alternative to corrupt government. In the late twentieth century the debate had shifted radically, however. The reasons for this shift will be the subject of our future research.
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| 5. |
- Linnarsson, Magnus, 1977-
(författare)
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Contested customs : Swedish towns and the private customs company, 1726–1762
- 2021
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Ingår i: Bringing the People Back In. - Abingdon : Routledge. - 9780367686963 ; , s. 292-308
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article analyses the political contestation between the Swedish towns and the General Customs Lease Company, 1726–1761. It examines the agency of local groups, i.e. the towns, when they reacted and responded to policies introduced to them by the state, but pursued by a private company. The argument is that the introduction of the private Customs Company in 1726 altered the rules of political interaction. Usually, the conflict between the state and the localities can be described on the axis: local–central. In the case of the period of the Customs Company, the relation should rather be described as a triangle: local–private–central. This triangle, has implications for perceptions of how the state was supposed to function, and for questions about the common good. The introduction of the General Customs Lease Company, faced the towns with a fait accompli, and they were supposed to accept the new organisation. However, if the towns are regarded as political subjects, it is rather the start of resistance and contestation against the private company. Consequently, the example of the towns and the customs service illustrates how local and central politics became entangled with each other as a part of the early modern state building process. The contested customs in the eighteenth century is an example of the possibilities for the localities to have a say and gain support for their arguments in a specific question.
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| 6. |
- Linnarsson, Magnus, 1977-
(författare)
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Farming out state revenue : the debate about the General Customs Lease Company in Sweden, 1723–65
- 2018
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Ingår i: Parliaments, Estates and Represenation. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0260-6755 .- 1947-248X. ; 38:2, s. 175-191
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- 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.
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| 7. |
- Linnarsson, Magnus, 1977-
(författare)
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Förmodernitet: Analytiskt begrepp eller kronologisk restpost? : [Premodernity: a useful analytical concept or redundant chronological term?]
- 2015
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Ingår i: Scandia. - 0036-5483. ; 81:2, s. 9-18
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In January 2011 the Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences (RJ) announced the launch of a particular fund for research on the pre-1800s. Behind the initiative lay amongst other things a desire to increase the number of Swedish researchers studying the “premodern” era. The foundation used the term “premodern” solely to provide chronological demarcation. However, the term premodern also gives rise to questions like: what is meant by premodern; what was the premodern era, and when was this premodernity played out? These questions were addressed in a session at the national historical conference “Svenska historikermötet” in 2015. During the session many of the issues and problems related to premodernity were discussed. Each participant described his or her view of premodernity as a chronological period, and as a theoretical concept, and then concluded with a discussion on how the concept was relevant in their own research.The participants were invited to write an article based on the session and the results are published in this Supplement of Scandia. Hopefully, the various approaches and perspectives presented here reveal the multifaceted nature of the concept of premodernity. Further to the very simple chronological demarcation of the “premodern”, as given by the Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences, this collection of articles shows its wide and varied definitions. Limiting premodern to the chronological interpretation of the concept, risks lumping all pre-1800s history together into “something that happened in the old days”. As several of the contributions to this Supplement shows, premodernity can instead be used as a relevant analytical concept, discussed and applied by researchers.
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| 8. |
- Linnarsson, Magnus, 1977-
(författare)
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Från bondestafett till järnväg : Postväsendet som exempel på infrastruktur och förvaltning i Sverige 1600–1870
- 2019
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Ingår i: TEMP-tidsskrift for historie. - 1904-5565 .- 1904-9587. ; :18, s. 62-78
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- När det svenska postväsendet inrättades 1636 skapades en stafett av särskilt avdelade postbönder som transporterade posten. Stafettsystemet utgjorde postens grundläggande infrastruktur tills postbönderna i slutet av 1800-talet ersattes av transporter med postdiligens och järnväg. I artikeln analyseras den svenska postbondeinstitutionens tillkomst och avskaffande. Den svenska statens val att använda sig av postbönder var unikt i Europa och förklaras som en del av en etablerad lösning för resursmobilisering inom den svenska statsförvaltningen, så kallad indelning. Trots flera försök att ersätta postbönderna med ett annat system, fortlevde postbondeinstitutionen under 230 år. Författaren argumenterar för att systemets uthållighet berodde på den svenska statens svaga förvaltningsstrukturer under perioden. Förvaltningens begränsade resurser motverkade större institutionella förändringar av postsystemet innan industrialiseringen på 1800-talet.
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| 9. |
- Linnarsson, Magnus, 1977-
(författare)
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Postal service on a lease contract : the privatization and outsourcing of the Swedish postal service, 1662–1668
- 2012
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of History. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0346-8755 .- 1502-7716. ; 37:3, s. 296-316
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article deals with the privatization of the Swedish postal service in the 1660s. In 1663 the Swedish state signed a lease contract for the management of the kingdom's postal service, handing over the leadership of the post to the nobleman Johan von Beijer. The purpose of this article is to show how the early modern Swedish state used private alternatives in executing its undertakings. An analysis of Johan von Beijer's lease contract will serve as an illuminating example of what such a private alternative might be. In order to answer the question of what influenced the choice of organization form, transaction cost theory is applied. Based on the analysis of the contract, and the negotiations between Beijer and the state, this article is able to complement and show the nuances of how the early modern Swedish state functioned in practice.
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| 10. |
- Linnarsson, Magnus, Docent, 1977-
(författare)
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Radicalism in the old regime : the challenge of parliamentary sovereignty in Sweden, 1769–70
- 2022
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Ingår i: Parliaments, Estates and Represenation. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0260-6755 .- 1947-248X. ; , s. 233-252
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article analyses how notions of parliamentary sovereignty, were posited against universal principles of the separation of powers, using the debate in the Swedish Diet (Riksdag) in 1769 on the Act of Security as an example. The act was launched as an attack on the prevailing parliamentary sovereignty. Since the mid- eighteenth century, the Riksdag had established itself as the sovereign power in Swedish politics and its critics argued for the need of personal and material security. The analysis shows how egalitarian ideas and democratic elements became part of the political discourse. This article argues that this debate was decisive for the coming end of the Swedish Age of Liberty (1719–72), and that it exemplifies a political conflict between radicals and conservatives. It also shows how the debate was a battle for alternative paths of state formation. Either a strong state, dominated by elite groups with capacity to control policy, or a more participatory government, with traces of early democratization. The analysis draws on two key analytical concepts: the ‘rule of law’ and ‘political participation’. In the debate, the rule of law became an instrument for limiting political participation when the aristocracy tried to strengthen its powers.
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