The one day of constituional debate in 1814 gives us a unique intake to study changes both at the macro-political and the micro-political levels. On the one hand, the debate crystallises paternalist, loyalist and democratic positions, among civil servants who were transforming from being archetypical middle-men of empire to a class of increasingly self-aware leaders of the country. On the other, it also highlights the quotidian practices that enabled such change. The suggested project thus aims at studyin g the change from empire to suzerainty through three different loci. At the macro-level, we seek to establish the Dano-Norwegian monarchy as one of many empires of the day, and Norwegian independence in 1814 as one example of imperial dissolution. At the micro-level, we study how this transition was interconnected with the growing self-awareness and changing practices of the Norwegian civil servants. Tying the levels together, at the meso level, we study how changing conceptualisations of external affairs and Norway's relations with the world around it opened conceptual space for suzerainty and gradual democratisation.
It is important to acknowledge that this is a social science project rather than an historical project. The vast body of literature on Sc andinavian history from the period will be mined and reassessed through social science lenses as a means, on the one hand, of bringing new aspects of the historical period around the Constitution to light and on the other of extending our theoretical unde rstanding of different polities, state formations and the mechanisms behind them. The project is an extension of ongoing research, and will rely on first-hand sources and on second-hand sources in the Scandinavian languages and English. We will rely on de tailed readings of key works of central authors, journals and newspapers of the day and Storting records. Content analysis and network analysis, both quantitative and qualitative, will be used.
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Fra tilleggssøknad 216999:
I forbindelse med vårt prosjekt Manning the State, søker vi om midler til deltakelse på seminar i Danmark 30.-31. januar 2012, samt i denne forbindelse å avholde seminar i København 1. februar.
Vi ønsker å koble oss opp til det danske 1814 nettverket gjennom å bidra på en av konferansene de avholder. Konferansen er særdeles relevant for vårt prosjekt, da den omhandler ?Norge, hertugdømmer ne og kolonierne - 1814 og eftervirkningerne?.
Vi ønsker å kombinere vår deltagelse i 1814 nettverkets konferanse, med et prosjektseminar i København i etterkant. Vi vil her presentere de første artikkelutkastene, som vil raffineres videre etter innspil l fra referansegruppen for presentasjon på en internasjonal konferanse i San Diego senere samme vår. Dette seminaret vil dermed være første skritt i prosessen frem mot de første artiklene.
Dette kombinerte tiltaket er dermed tuftet på både samarbeid mell om prosjektene i GRUNNLOV og 1814 nettverket, og faglig assistanse iht. spesifisering av referansegruppe i den opprinnelige prosjektsøknaden.