ISSUE: 2/2025
- Volume 29
- Number 2
- 2025
Subscribe NEWSLETTER
Studia Europejskie –
Studies in European Affairs
ISSN: 1428-149X
e-ISSN: 2719-3780
License
Articles published in the journal are under a Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial – No Derivatives 4.0 International License
Publication co-financed by Ministry of Science and Higher Education pursuant to the Regulation of the Minister of Education and Science of 3 August 2021 (Journal of Laws of 2021, item 1514) on the “Development of Scientific Journals” programme.
Publikacja dofinansowana przez Ministerstwo Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wyższego na podstawie rozporządzenia Ministra Edukacji i Nauki z 3 sierpnia 2021 r. (Dz. U. z 2021 r. poz. 1514) w sprawie programu „Rozwój czasopism naukowych”.
Publication co-financed by the University of Warsaw within the “Excellence Initiative – Research University” programme.
Czasopismo otrzymało dofinasowanie w ramach Programu „Inicjatywa Doskonałości – Uczelnia Badawcza”.
The Swedish Civilising Process: Violence, Peace, and the Sociogenesis of a Nordic Community
Abstract
From a historical perspective, the Nordic region has been considered a highly conflictual space. The numerous wars between the kingdoms of Denmark and Sweden can be compared only to the rivalries between England and France, and, to a lesser extent, between England and Scotland. Since the beginning of the nineteenth century, however, disputes between the Nordic countries have undergone a radical transformation. Rather than intensifying and escalating in violence, the region became characterised by the construction of various political and social mechanisms, ultimately resulting in the establishment of a stable peace. If the region had previously been marked by a high level of violence, from the nineteenth century onwards it became defined by a growing emphasis on peace and mutual trust. The nineteenth century thus emerged as a pivotal period for understanding this social transformation, with the kingdoms of Sweden and Denmark as the main political actors – primarily due to their historical capacity to mobilise for war. This article seeks to explore the extent to which the consolidation of the Swedish state throughout the nineteenth century both impacted and was impacted by the strengthening of a Nordic civilisational ideal, thereby contributing to the pacification of the region. The analysis is informed by Arnold Toynbee’s conception of civilisations as units of historical analysis and Norbert Elias’s theory of the “civilising process”, in order to examine the interdependent relationship between the formation of a Nordic civilisation (or community) and the development of the Swedish state. Based on a methodology grounded in global historical sociology, this article seeks to substantiate the argument that the pacification of Swedish society must be understood in conjunction with the pacification of the Nordic region. These national and regional (or civilisational) formation processes occur concurrently, exerting mutual influence on one another.
References
Abrams, P. (1982) Historical Sociology. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Anderson, P. (2013) Lineages of the Absolutist State. London: Verso Books.
Andrén, N. (1967) “Nordic Integration”, Cooperation and Conflict. Vol. 2(1), pp. 1–25. DOI: 10.1177/001083676700200101.
Andrén, N. (1978) “Prospects for the Nordic Security Pattern”, Cooperation and Conflict. Vol. 13(3), pp. 181–192. DOI: 10.1177/001083677801300301.
Andrén, N. (1984) “Nordic Integration and Cooperation: Illusion and Reality”, Cooperation and Conflict. Vol. 19(4), pp. 251–262. DOI: 10.1177/001083678401900404.
Árnason, J.A. and Wittrock, B. (2012) Introduction in Árnason, J.A. and Wittrock, B. (eds.) Nordic Patterns to Modernity. New York: Berghahn Books, pp. 1–24. DOI: 10.1515/9780857452702-002.
Becker-Christenses, H. (2016) The Idea of Scandinavianism in Kouri, E.I. and Olesen, J.E. (eds.) The Cambridge History of Scandinavia, Volume II. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI: 10.1017/CHO9781139031639.049.
Bonham, G.M. (1969) “Scandinavian Parliamentarians: Attitudes towards Political Integration”, Cooperation and Conflict. Vol. 04(2), pp. 149–160. DOI: 10.1177/001083676900400201.
Boulding, K.E. (1978) Stable Peace. Texas: The University of Texas Press.
Deutsch, K. (1954) Political Community at the International Level: Problems of Definition and Measurement. New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc.
Deutsch, K. et al. (1957) Political Community and the North Atlantic Area: International Organization in the Light of Historical Experience. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
Dørum, K. et al. (2021) Repertoires of State Building from Below in the Nordic Countries, c. 1500–1800 in Dørum, K. et al. (eds.) Bringing the People Back In State Building from Below in the Nordic Countries ca. 1500–1800. London: Routledge, pp. 3–22. DOI: 10.4324/9781003138662-1.
Elias, N. (2000) The Civilizing Process: Sociogenetic and Psychogenetic Investigations. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
Ertman, T. (2005) State Formation and State Building in Europe in Janoski, T. et al. (eds.) The Handbook of Political Sociology. New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 367–383. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511818059.020.
Go, J. and Lawson, G. (eds.) (2017) Global Historical Sociology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI: 10.1017/9781316711248.
Go, J. and Lawson, G. (2025) “Vision and Method in Global Historical Sociology”, Social Science History. Vol. 49(1), First Vision, pp. 1–26. DOI: 10.1017/ssh.2024.40.
Lachmann, R. (2014) What is Historical Sociology? Cambridge: Polity Press.
Laursen, J. and Olesen, T. (2000b) “A Nordic Alternative to Europe? The Interdependence of Denmark’s Nordic and European Policies, 1945–1998”, Contemporary European History. Vol. 09(1), pp. 59–92. DOI: 10.1017/S096077730000103X.
Örvik, N. (1967) “Integration: For Whom, Against Whom?”, Cooperation and Conflict. Vol. 2(1), pp. 54–59. DOI: 10.1177/001083676700200105.
Petterson, L. (2016) Sweden: the Emergence of the Nation State in Kouri, E.I. and Olesen, J.E. (eds.) The Cambridge History of Scandinavia, Volume II. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI: 10.1017/CHO9781139031639.053.
Skocpol, T. (1985) Sociology’s Historical Imagination in Skocpol, T. (ed.) Vision and Method in Historical Sociology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1–21. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511621567.002.
Stråth, B. (1995) Scandinavian Identity: a Mythical Reality in Sørensen, N.A. (ed.) European Identities: Cultural Diversity and Integration Since 1700. Odense: University Press of Southern Denmark.
Tilly, C. (1992) Coercion, Capital and European States, AD 990–1992. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
Tönnies, F. (2001) Community and Civil Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511816260.
Toynbee, A.J. (1948) A Study of History. London: Oxford University Press.
Wiberg, H. (1993) Scandinavia in Bruns, R.D. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Arms Control and Disarmament, Volume 1. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
Wiberg, H. (2000a) The Nordic Security Community: Past, Present, Future in Heurlin, B. and Mouritzen, H. (eds.) Danish Foreign Policy Yearbook 2000. Copenhagen: Danish Institute of International Affairs.
Wiberg, H. (2000b) “Security Communities: Emmanuel Adler, Michael Barnett and Anomalous Northerners”, Cooperation and Conflict. Vol. 35(3), pp. 289–298. DOI: 10.1177/00108360021962110.
Wittrock, B. (2012) The Making of Sweden in Árnason, J.A. and Wittrock, B. (eds.) Nordic Patterns to Modernity. New York: Berghahn Books, pp. 89–110. DOI: 10.1515/9780857452702-006.
Wæver, O. (1998) Insecurity, Security, and Asecurity in the West European Non-war Community in Adler, E. and Barnett, M. (eds.) Security Communities. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511598661.003.
Language: English
Pages: 191-209
How to Cite:
Harvard
Babo, T. (2025) "The Swedish Civilising Process: Violence, Peace, and the Sociogenesis of a Nordic Community". Studia Europejskie – Studies in European Affairs, 2/2025, pp. 191-209. DOI: 10.33067/SE.2.2025.10