| Summary: | This project is conducted as a descriptive case-study with the aim to explore the political context that formed and articulated the nationalist thoughts of the Swedish scholar, publicist, and parliamentarian Rudolf Kjellén. Specifically, it concerns his nationalist thoughts as they are articulated in his nationalist manifesto Nationell Samling: Politiska och Etiska Fragment(National Congregation: Political and Ethical Fragments (1906)), and how they were articulated during his two initial years in the Swedish Riksdag: 1905-1906. Hence does the work conducted here constitute a study into the history of ideas. Based on Quentin Skinner's theory regarding the role of context when inquiries into history are conducted, the chief focus of this inquiry has its attention on the political context. In as much as this study reveals, the political context that formed Kjellén's nationalism was the major influence of political liberalism at the time with which this inquiry is concerned, and especially so with regards to how it influenced the results of the negotiations in the aftermath of the dissolution of the Swedish-Norwegian Union in 1905, and the discussions on universal suffrage in Sweden at the time. Additionally, this inquiry provides support for a variety of claims and ideas from previous research, both on nationalism and on Kjellén, while simultaneously delivering a more nuanced understanding of the relatively unexplored political context that articulated the specifics of Kjellén's nationalism. Accordingly, it is my aim to contribute to the scholarships on nationalism, and on Kjellén, with a thorough and structured understanding of the political context that formed and articulated its idiosyncrasies.
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