Bringing the people back in : state building from below in the Nordic countries ca. 1500-1800 / edited by Knut Dørum, Mats Hallenberg, and Kimmo Katajala.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Repertoires of state building from below in the Nordic countries, c. 1500-1800 / Knut Dørum, Mats Hallenberg, Kimmo Katajala -- The historical sociology of politics as the study of people, power and agency / Michael Braddick -- The ethics of rule and the pragmatics of resistance / Malte Griesse & Miriam Rönnqvist -- Conflict, state formation and literacy / Magne Njåstad -- Statebreaking from below / Sari Nauman -- Pride of the communes / Martin Neuding Skoog -- Insurgents of the Oldenburg state in Torstensson's War 1643-1645 / Olli Bäckström -- Households and state-building in early modern Denmark / Nina Javette Koefoed -- Policing the guilds / Jörgen Mührmann-Lund -- How soldiers' women built early modern states / Martin Andersson -- From state elite to regional elite / Erik Opsahl -- An improvised empire / Kaarle Wirta -- The state conquers a feudal enclave / Joakim Scherp -- From subjects to rural citizens? / Ella Viitaniemi -- Houses divided? / Trond Bjerkås -- Local space building as state building? / Jenni Merovuo -- Contested customs / Magnus Linnarsson -- Criticism of government in Norway c. 1770-1814 / Knut Dørum -- The people and the state / Marjolein 'tHart.

"The formation of states in early modern Europe has long been an important topic for historical analysis. Traditionally, the political and military struggles of kings and rulers were the favoured object of study for academic historians. This book highlights new historical research from Europe's northern frontier, bringing 'the people' back into the discussion of state politics, presenting alternative views of political and social relations in the Nordic countries before industrialization. The early modern period was a time that witnessed initiatives from people from many groups formally excluded from political influence, operating outside the structures of central government, and this book returns to the subject of contentious politics and state building from below"--