In times of perceived crisis in Western democracies, the Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden stand out as remarkably stable: Polarization and populism are weaker than elsewhere, and civic unrest is very limited. Recent research shows that this extraordinary stability characterized Scandinavia even in the 19th and early 20th centuries when democracy replaced autocracy … Continue reading The Foundations for Democracy in Scandinavia
The death of Queen Elizabeth II produced a record number of hot takes on the British Empire, most notable only for what they revealed about the ideology of the author. That of Fox news host Tucker Carlson was no exception: “When the British pulled out of India, they left behind an entire civilization, a language, … Continue reading How Colonialism Changed the World — for Better and for Worse
By Andrej Kokkonen & Anders Sundell "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes” wrote Benjamin Franklin. Taxes have certainly received considerable attention in the study of historical political economy. War made the state, states made war, and to make war, states need money. But Franklin’s other certainty, death, … Continue reading How Medieval and Early Modern Monarchies Cheated Death
How did the state arise in Europe? The canonical answer is Charles Tilly’s: “war made the state and the state made war.” The starting point is the fragmentation of territorial political authority in Europe after the collapse of the Carolingian empire in 888, and the ambitions of rulers in the early modern (1500-1700) era. To … Continue reading Tilly Goes to Church: The Medieval and Religious Origins of the European State