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The Swedish Civilising Process: Violence, Peace, and the Sociogenesis of a Nordic Community

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Babo T.

Studia Europejskie-Studies in European Affairs

2025

vol. 29

issue 2

191-209

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.

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1 Studia Europejskie-Studies in European Affairs

1 Babo T.

1 2025

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The Swedish Civilising Process: Violence, Peace, and the Sociogenesis of a Nordic Community