Modern Denmark 19th century to the present

/Claus Møller Jørgensenhiscj@hum.au.dk

International center

May 6 2015

14.00-16.00

Society of estates

God founds the society of estatsgiving the sword to the nobility, the scepter to the king, the book to the clergy and the flailto the peasant, representing the working man. (Illustration early17th century)

The long 19th century: ChangePeasant serfs 1780 Industrial workers 1880 (1960)

The long 19th century: Change

Religion Nationality

The long 19th century: Change

Absolutist (1660-1848)Representative democracy (1849 /1915: universal suffrage)

• Modernization of society1750: Society of estates: born into an estate as nobility, bourgeoisie (borger) or peasant

- very limited social mobility

- grounded political power: landowning nobility monopolizes political power

1914: Class society: born into certain economic and social circumstances

- social mobility possible – carers open to talent

- mobile political power: Democracy

• Economic modernization1750: Feudal economy- Manorial system- Village community as base of the economy - subsistence production1914: Agrarian Capitalism- Freeholding farm as base of the economy - - production for a national and inter-

national marked - (Andelsbevægelsen: Co-operative movement: agricultural industries owned by producers/peasants: Dairies, slaugther plants

- 1870- Industrialization (after 1960 industry is dominant)- Commercial sector important

Demographic change - longer lives:

1750: 38 years1840: 43 years 1900: 52 years2013: Male: 77,9 years. Female 81.9 years.

- Population growth: 1767: 780.0001840: 1,3 mio. 1901: 2,5 mio. 1921: 3,1 mio. 1940: 4.0 mio.1973: 5.0 mio.2013: 5.6 mio.

The long 19th century: ChangeRural society Urban society

Urbanization: 20% i 1840, 40% 1901, 70% in 1955, 85% in 2005 livedin cities. 10%-12% lived in Copenhagen.

Class society

Result of social processes, not a creation of God

Change is possible for a better future.

Utopias.

(Marxist poster 1911. The industrialWorker, USA)

The manorial system

Manor-house

Villages belonging to a manor house

Localized agraian culture: family, villagemanor, king, God

Vertical

Freeholding system

Agraria capitalism

Manorshouse: a bigfarm amongother farms

Individuel farms

Family, parish, Denmark

Political parties

National frame of reference

Horizontal

Manor houses/ manor system 1770

Local

Danmark in

1920

National

• Localised peasant culture dissolved and in reorganized into politically active nationallyoriented class – the farmers

• School– 1814: religious foundation– 1899+1903: comprehensive and interconnected school

system – national foundation from 1840s

• Communication og infrastructure (efter 1850)– trains, steam ships, roads, telegraph, telephone, news

papers, weekly journals– Political institutions (1849)– The country is bound together as a national entity

Map from 1788

The Danish-Norwegian-Schleswig-Holsteinian state

(Composite state /helstat)

•Dynasticterritorial state

•Parts united by the King

• Monasticsovereignty

1788 state in modern grafics

Denmark and Norway: Danish language

Schleswig: Danish spoken in the North, German in the South

Holstein: German Language

Language not a political issue

School mapfrom 1817

The Danish-Schleswig-Holsteinianstate of 1814

•NapoleonicWarNorway lost

• Dynasticterritorial state

•Parts unitedby the King

• Monasticsovereignty

1817 state in modern grafics

Language not a political issue

Map 1879

State of Denmark after1864

• Second Schleswig-Holstein War 1864

•Schleswig and Holstein lost to Prussia /Austria

First Schleswig-Holstein War 1848-1850.

Language and nationality the political issue

Referendum after WW1

(Denmark neutral = Denmark won)

Blue zones returned to Denmark after referendum

Nationally homogeniousnational state

Danmark i

1920

• Changes

– Denmark a nation state after 1864

– No numerically significant minorities

• Continuities

– Political, economic and cultural dominance of Copenhagen

– Continuous growth of the state apparatus, staff and tasks

– Continuous legitimacy of the state among the citizens

Absolutist legacy: The Modern Danish State• Absolutism laid the foundation of the modern Danish state

– Legitimacy of the state• The state as friend• Confidence • Culture, education, health, infrastructure, etc etc state responsibilities

– Centralization– Development of a powerful central administration

• Independent element in policy formation• Blurred lines between state and civil society

– Involvement of civil society institutions and individuals in law preparation processes

• Non-corrupt administration by the book, by the law

– State as agent of modernisation of society• 1721-1914 from war to ‘welfare’

• Danish state building not depending on the nobility (as it did in fx Prussia)– Reforms furthered the position of small free holding peasants

1750-1800

1820-1848

National awakening and the end of absolutism

Nation building

state patriotism- Love og king and country

- Patriotism is a virtue and a rational choice

- Not related to language, culture or notions of common history

- The Fatherland is where you live and work

- A-national

- 1776 Law of Citizenship- Positions in the Danish state administration should in principle

be reserved for the fahterlands’ own sons, that is, Danish, Holsteinians, and Norwegians.

Nation building

Romanticism (1801-)- Copenhagen and oppositional

• Criticism of state patriotism – surface, unnatural, suppressive– Did not care about Danish language, history or culture in general

• Discovery of the Danish (Not the cake, the culture)

– Language, literature, history, art– Human sciences

• National consciousness is asleep in the Danish People and in need of awakening

C. F. Allen (1811-1871)

Historiker, professor

1851-1871

Handbook of the

History of the

Fatherland with Special

Attention to the Inner

Life of the State and

the People (1840)

Haandbog i

Fædrelandets Historie

med særlig hensyn til

Statens og Folkets

indre historie (1840)

J. Th. Lundbye: Countryside by Arresøe (1838)

P. C. Skovgaard: Møns Klint (1852)

P. C. Skovgaard: Bøgeskov i maj

Beech forest in May

Nation building

• Core concept is the people– An organism – not al collection of individuals– Common language and history

• language is the mirror of the spirit of the people

• After 1840 a political programme– State should equal nation– Denmark and Schlewig in one nation state

• First Schleswig-Holstein war 1848-50• Second Schleswig-Holstein war 1864

Nation building

• Diffusion of national thinking around 1848– Middle class circles in Copenhagen an major provincial

towns (Odense 8000, Aarhus 4000 inhabitants)

• State patriotism – love of the king widespread among peasants (80% of the

population)– Regional identities and state patriotic sentiment, love of

the king, wide spread in Schleswig

The Political System• Mid-1820s: process of politicization

– First organised opposition to absolutism

– Located in Copenhagen

– Organised in voluntary associations, editorial boards, and upper middle class forms of sociability

• Paper: The Fatherland 1834 (Fædrelandet)

– Liberal: Free constitution, (elected representatives of the people) citizen rights

National: Creation of a Danish nation state (Denmark-Schleswig) (partitioning of the composite state of the Danish king)

Elitist: The educated middle class is the core of the nation

Marstrand: "Musiksoirée hos Waagepetersen"

Orla Lehmann

(1810-1870)

National liberal politician

Denmark to the Ejder: Nation state consisting of the Kingdom of Denmark and the Duchy of Schleswig covering the Danish nation.

“The core of the Danish nation is the enlightened and honourable middle class which have obtained the virtues of all higher estates and therefore have inherited their political and spiritual priority.”

The Political System

• 1848 – European revolutions

• Revolutionary situation in Copenhagen (no bloodshed)

• Mass meetings, demonstrations, political agitation

• Enough to make the Fr. VII abdicate • Declares himself constitutional monarch

• Two national liberal ministers in a new government

• The same pattern as everywhere else

The Political System

Later (1860s)

illustration of

the decisive

demonstration

1848.

Note the number of

high hats – this is no

mob

The Political System

• Copenhagen exceptions

– No conter revolution

– Nobility no political force

– Army no counter revolutionary force

• Ejder-programme results in war with The German Bund

– War with Prussia and Austria the bloody result of the peaceful events

The Political System

• Constitution June 5 1849

– §1: Government is restricted monarchy

– §2: laws are given by parliament and king in cooperation

– Restricted suffrage – property and education

– Two chambers

• First chamber (Lords) as a conservative guarantee to secure tradition and revolutionary tendencies in the more democratically elected second chamber (Commons)

Orla Lehmann

(1810-1870)

When Denmark in 1848 undertook the daring experiment to give political power to the people the intention was not to put power into the hands of the unenlightened peasant [rabble]....It is to the gifted, the educated and the propertied that any civilized society gives the major influence on politics and public matters. (1861)

Elitist concept of nation and ‘democracy’

1848-1915

The Political System

• Constitution June 5 1849

- Not democracy understood as representative government based on universal suffrage

- Women and servants excluded

- The king was seen a real political actor- Foreign policy

- Appointment of the government

- Ministers were responsible to the king, not the parliament

The Political System

• Process of democratization

– More and more voters used their rights

• Few in the beginning

• Mobilization of voters by organized parties after 1870– Press, organizations, programmes, the works

– 4 party system

• Left (Venstre) liberal peasant based (1870)

• Right (Konservative)

• Social Democrats (Socialdemokraterne 1876)

• Social Liberals (Radikale Venstre 1905)

The Political System

• 1901 parliamentarism as principle

– No government can be in office if a majority in parliament is against it

• The change of system (Systemskiftet)

– Liberal government

• 1915 revision of the constitution

– Women and servants can vote and be elected

The Political System• Political culture of the 20 century

– No single party has been able to secure a majority of the vote

• No single class or party has been able to push through it’s own political programme

• Policy formation a result of negotiation and compromise

• Most issues, especially major reforms, backed by all or at least 3 of the four old parties

• Balance of class- and group interest

• More political harmony than in most countries– Below the surface of consensus conflicts occurs but rarely to the

extent that the compromise seeking political culture has been broken

• Big reforms are not remade each time a new government takes office

Nation building

• Diffusion of national thinking after 1848

– War 1848-50 diffused nationalism

• National struggle popularized in national songs, paper, stories etc.

– Integration of peasants – Dissolution of the old village communities and the

concomitant world view

– Religious movements 1820ff later turning into political movements in the 1840s onwards

– From local to national after 1848

First Schleswig-Holstein War 1848-50

Second Schleswig-Holstein War 1864

Retreat from Dannevirke

J. B. S. Estrup (1825-1913)

Prime minister 1875-1894

Squire, land owner

Tory

Through rearmament the aim is to create a will for military defence to unite the people, empower it and prevent the feeling of subjugation

“with all power push through the defence issue not just to create a higher level of security but especially because the people can not cope with the moral defeat and it’s loos of power without being able to decide on the means to strengthen it’s ability to defend itself.”

Christianity and traditional institutions Church and Kingdom

Gustav Bang (1871-1915)

Social Democrat

Take back national feeling from the bourgeois

Cleanse the concept of nationality for militarism, royalism, and the idolisation of stereotypical images of the enemy

Unite nationality and democracy and social justice

International understanding and cooperation

N. F. S. Grundtvig (1783-1872)

Develop the nation through national traditions and national language

Nordic-national thought

Nordic Mythology and the spoken word – the original spirit of the people in the tongue of the people

Christianity and nationality

Danish contrary to foreign

Romanticism

Grundtvigianism: popular mass peasant movement after 1864.

Folk High Schools after 1864: national fortresses

Liberal

Georg Brandes (1842-1927)

Social liberal

Modern European culture the means to renew Danish national culture

Closure from European culture the explanation of decay

Science, criticism, rationality

Ateism

Social realism contrary to romanticism

National realism – anti-militarism

International cooperation

Nation building

• Mass nationalism after 1870

– Comprehensive schooling (1814)– From religious to national

– Folk high schools after 1864– National identification of peasants - grundvigianism

– Process of politicization/democratization – Continuous political mobilization

– Mass movements after 1870

– Infrastructural integration: roads, ships, trains, newspapers, journals, magazines etc

– National time 1867, national orthography

1914: Everybody thinks within a national framework, but there is no consensus about Danishness, what it is or what it should be

The semantic field of a discussion about citizenship around 1900

1915-

Welfare state and democracy

Denmark and the World Wars

• Neutral during the First World War– Neutrality and League of Nations Danish foreign policy

in the interwar period

• Collaboration with German occupation during the Second World War– Backed by all political parties– Seen as a means to keep as much as possible under

Danish control – Ends august 1943

• Germans demand death penalty for sabotage• Peoples strike• Head of department – caretaker government

Interwar period

• Consolidation of national democracy

- Autocratic movements no foothold in Denmark

- Seen as foreign and non-national- Danish Nazi Party seen as a German puppet party

- 3 of 179 members of parliament in 1939

- Danish Communist Party (1919) seen as a Soviet puppet party

- 2 of 179 members of parliament in 1934

- National identifications of all ideological convictions defined true Danisness as including democracy

- Democracy as a way to bar Nazism and Communism

Interwar period

• Consolidation of national democracy

- Social democrats

- The largest party from mid-20s

- Redefines itself as a democratic

national peoples party

- Danish and reliable- Removes the perceived threat of

International socialism

– Denmark for the people: work, bread

and freedom

» Election poster from 1934

After the second world war

– Unprecedented economic progress• Sub-urbia – a nation of house owners

• Social housing programmes

• Women as work force

– Democracy without challenges

– Nationality without challenges until 1990• No/few debates about nationality before the mid 1990s

• Nationalism in bad standing after the second world war

• Debates about society evolved around democracy and welfare– Primary school law of the 1970 should create democratic citizens

• Concerns about to Danishness as culture a minority issue

• Hal Koch (1840): what binds the Danish people together is not a cultural-national set of values, but democratic dialogue based on social and economic equality

• Development of modern welfare state– 1890: Pensions for old people, accident insurance, health

care, poor relief• To the worthy

– Those not worth had to receive poor relief.

– Reception of poor relief meant loss of rights, the right to vote

• Small amount of money used

• Aimed at social problems in the countryside

• State active, but a mix of compulsory and voluntary arrangements– Health care subsidised by the state but voluntary

– Experts and civil society organizations played a central role in the making of social policies

• Education is free and open for all

• Development of modern welfare state

– 1933, the great depression

• Further state driven social reforms– Unemployment insurance partly financed by the state

• The number of worthy recipients enlarged substantially– Disease and a range of social problems did not mean loss of rights

– Sociopaths were excluded, eugenics

• A mix of compulsory and voluntary arrangements– Experts and civil society organizations played a central role in the

making of social policies

• Education free and open to all citizens – Financed by taxes

• Health care free and open to all citizens– Financed by taxes

• Development of modern welfare state– After the second world war

• Gradual disappearance of the concept of worthiness– Social benefits a universal right

• Universalization– Benefits of the welfare state a right for all citizens

• Growth of areas related to welfare policies– Pensions, illness, occupational injuries, child care, health, schooling, universities,

educational grants etc

– Universal welfare model• Social security All political parties pro welfare state• Social Democrats and Social Liberals – pro• Liberals and Conservatives – more sceptic, sometimes critics

– Financed by taxes – highest income taxes in the world– One of the largest public sectors in the world

• 1950: 160.000 employees • 1970: 500.000 • 2013: 800.000

– Legitimacy of the state and state bureaucracy• The state as a friend

Contemporary Denmark• Re-nationalization of Danish politics 1973 and 1989• Membership of EU (EF)

– 63,8% yes– Economic benefits, mainly for agriculture– No to Maastricht treaty 1991 (50,7% no)

» Popular mistrust and scepticism• Democratic deficit – elitist project• Threat to national interests and identity • 1992 exceptions: monetary union, defence, citizenship, law (56,7% yes)

• Non-Western immigration catalyst of debates of Danishness and threats to Danish culture and nationality– Problem of integration of non-western immigrants

» concentration in social housing areas– School politics aimed at furthering Danish identity and values 2000 onward– Value politics (restriction of immigration)– The Muhammed cartoon crisis 2005

» The Islamic threat to freedom of speech » and Danish way of life

Contemporary Denmark• The Danish Peoples Party (Dansk Folkeparti 1995)

» Anti EU, anti-immigration, anti-islam, pro-national

» Second largest political party today app 20% of the votes

» A Danish people or a European population group (S. Krarup)

• The competition state– The aim of the state is not welfare in itself

» Reduction of social welfare arrangements

» The state shall secure competitiveness

• Education is a means to develop the work qualifications and the competitive advantage of society economic development welfare

» Schooling and health care is free

– Policy formation via consultancy agencies not professional experts or interest groups

Conclusion

• From agriculture to service, it and med-tech

– 4% of the economy originated from agriculture in 2010, 80% from service sector

• National democracy

• National Europeans

• Legitimacy of the state and state bureaucracy