Between Tradition and the Welfare State: Local development through local politics in Sweden 1863-1919

In my dissertation project, I use minutes from the municipal assemblies of two Swedish municipalities in order to study local politics and local development. By studying what was decided, how and by whom, I aim to understand the impact local power structures, the municipal voting system and related legislation had on the local development and how this related to the general, Swedish development during industrialization.

The two municipalities in this study are situated in the county Dalarna, at the time of the study known as Kopparberg county. The mixed composition of farming and industry in the municipalities makes them interesting study objects when examining the relationship between industrialization and the new political system on municipality level, which gave companies the same right to vote as the rest of the population. The dissertation project is part of the larger project Micro Meets Macro: Peasant diaries and the transformation of Sweden 1840-1920, studying the same area.