Det nordiska offentlighetsrummets politiska polemik: Eirik Hornborgs nordiska demokrati i svensk-finländsk offentlighet 1934–1937

Abstract

Public life and Nordic political polemics: Eirik Hornborg’s vision of democracy, 1934–1937

The historical study of key political concepts in Sweden and Finland is rooted in different national traditions. The nationhood of the political actors has determined which debates have been subject to historical research. This article complements these national traditions by examining a political debate conducted in a transnational Nordic public sphere, using the example of a newspaper debate in the mid-1930s initiated by the Finland-Swede Eirik Hornborg, a leading public figure in Finland and pan-Nordic enthusiast. The case study shows the fruitfulness of a transnational perspective on the history of key political Nordic concepts in the Nordic countries, pointing to the transnational content and meaning that has been overlooked by earlier historical research that has primarily been conducted within national traditions.