Processes of Modernisation: Scandinavian Experiences

Abstract

We may ask what is typical of processes of modernisation in Scandinavia? What does Scandinavia have, in this respect, that no one else has? As I see it, what is unique to modernisation processes in Scandinavia, from the eighteenth century and throughout the nineteenth, is a contentious interplay between state officials and popular movements; between enlightened state officials and successful popular movements. Prussia, too, had enlightened state officials; but, in the German realm, popular movements did not turn out to be successful in this respect.