This book focuses on popular struggles in Denmark, Norway and Sweden from 1700-2015, and how popular struggle in the form of hunger riots, tax rebellions, petition drives, strikes, demonstrations, public meetings and social movements paved the way for the introduction and development of civil liberties and political rights. The author portrays social and political mass mobilization of ordinary people as vital to the construction of democracy, and an essential condition for the formation of the Scandinavian welfare states.
Popular Struggle and Democracy in Scandinavia shows the transnational connections between Denmark, Norway and Sweden and between Scandinavia and the rest of Europe, and also contains a comparison of popular struggle in Scandinavia seen in a wider European perspective.
The book will be of interest to social scientists, historians and students and researchers with an interest in popular struggles in Scandinavia.

Introduction; Flemming Mikkelsen & Stefan Nyzell.- PART I: DENMARK.- 1. Denmark 1700-1849: Crowds, Movements and Absolute Monarchy; Flemming Mikkelsen.- 2. Denmark 1850-1920: After Absolutism, before Democracy; René Karpantschof.- 3. Denmark 1914-1939: Popular Struggle in an Age of Mass Politics; Flemming Mikkelsen.- 4. Denmark 1940-1946: War, Occupation and Liberation; Flemming Mikkelsen.- 5. Denmark 1946-2015: Popular Contention in an Era of Democracy; Flemming Mikkelsen.- PART II: NORWAY.- 6. Norway 1750-1850: Riots and Participation; Hilde Sandvik.- 7. Norway 1850-1940: Six Types of Popular Resistance; Knut Kjeldstadli.- 8. Norway 1945-2015: Contention and Democracy; Idar Helle & Tiago Matos.- PART III: SWEDEN.- 9. Sweden 1740-1880: From Peasant Rebellion to Urban Riots. The Long Process of Democratization; Mats Berglund.- 10. Sweden 1880-1910: The Age of the Labour Movement; Mats Greiff & Johan Lundi.- 11. Sweden 1910-1950: Popular Struggle and Democracy; Martin Ericsson & Stefan Nyzell.- 12. Sweden 1950-2015: Contentious Politics and Social Movements between Confrontation and Conditioned Cooperation; Abby Peterson, Håkan Thörn & Mattias Wahlström.- PART IV: COMPARISON.- 13. Popular Struggle and Democracy in Scandinavia in a Comparative Perspective; Flemming Mikkelsen & Stefan Nyzell.

Flemming Mikkelsen is Senior Research Fellow at University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He has published widely on historical and political sociology, social history, labour history, social movement, and ethnic relations.

Knut Kjeldstadli is Professor of History at the University of Oslo, Norway.

Stefan Nyzell is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Historical Studies, Malmö University, Sweden.